Trade called to ‘shift its mindset’ via Reuse Ready Charter

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 28 June, 2024

‘The future is reusable’, a report from the London Wine Fair’s (LWF) Bottle Collection Initiative has concluded after inaugural findings showed that reusing a bottle generates energy savings of 96%.

At last month’s LWF, The Porto Protocol and Sustainable Wine Solutions presented the initial findings from the LWF23 Bottle Collection Initiative – a partnership between three entities which saw 20,000 empty bottles collected from the 2023 event. The findings, which audited 1,017 bottles for their reuse potential, have now been published as the Reuse Ready Charter, which includes an open letter calling for industry action from wine producers and glass manufacturers.

The findings underscored just how much re-use equals energy savings. Reusing a bottle generates 96% energy savings overall, including 95% savings of CO₂ on reuse versus single use. Mineral raw material savings were as high as a 99% with re-use, while and water savings reached 60%.

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The charter concluded that the UK is well placed to drive the move towards reuse as the world’s third largest importer of wine, bottling 36% in-market.

At the moment however, reuse is still in the developmental stage. Currently, the economic model is ‘fragile due to lack of automation and industrialisation’, with work needed to be done to decrease costs and meet broader demand.

Now, the industry is being called to ‘shift its mindset and embrace reusability’ as momentum continues to gather globally.

‘Businesses all around the world are already successfully pioneering reuse models, showing that this is possible and eminently doable on a big scale and there is rising demand from wineries for previously used bottles,’ the charter said.

It also concluded that clarification is still needed on the efficacy of different types of reusability. Reuse models can exist either in a closed loop system, where bottles are turned to their original source, and also open loop, which don’t necessitate a return to origin.

The next steps will see the Reuse Ready campaign championed in France in partnership with La Bande Verte, a French non-profit which has a mission to accelerate the decarbonisation and move the sector towards a circular economy. The campaign will be seeking an additional partnership with a UK retailer or distributor to trial reuse initiatives ahead of next year's LWF (19 to 21 May), where the findings will be shared.

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