An economic and environmental gain: Pays d’Oc wines tackle packaging reduction

At Coteaux du Pic, all the logistics have been rethought. L.T.

Lighter bottles, shorter corks, smaller cartons… Inter Oc encourages winemakers and marketers to seek savings on materials. The key is significant savings and a significant environmental gain. Illustration at the foot of Pic Saint-Loup.

“What matters the bottle, as long as we have the intoxication”, wrote Alfred de Musset in 1833. Nearly 200 years later, the wine industry could take up the expression born from the pen of the French writer, as it embarks on a proactive policy of reducing its packaging.

The approach is obviously less poetic, but it nevertheless appears virtuous, the dual objective being to reduce the environmental impact and the cost of raw materials needed to package wine. “At a time when climate change is impacting our business, we must do our part to preserve the environment. Solutions exist to reduce our packaging, while increasing our technical and economic performance. We can make our vineyard sustainable and resilient”, assures Florence Barthès, General Manager of Inter Oc.

Five companies, 550 tonnes, €310,000

These are the words with which the interprofessional organisation of IGP Pays d’Oc wines – a production potential of 6 million hectolitres in Languedoc-Roussillon, the equivalent of 800 million bottles – is trying to convince its 13,000 winegrowers and 350 marketers to commit to this corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach. And since the figures are always more eloquent, many of them were recently brought together to present the results of a study conducted this year in five wine-growing companies: Badet Clément, Domaine du Grand-Chemin, Vignobles Lorgeril, Muscat de Lunel and Coteaux du Pic. “They produce 181,000 hl, the equivalent of 18 million bottles and 116,600 bags in boxes. Diagnostics have shown a potential reduction of 550 tonnes of material, representing a saving of €310,000”, summarizes Linda Filone, CSR and Promotion Manager for France of the IGP.

A year earlier, testing the system, BLB Vignobles, in Hérault, showed a reduction of 92 tonnes of packaging, representing a saving of €70,000. “This also represents a reduction of 75 tonnes of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of 500,000 km travelled by car”, adds Ms Filone.

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“The idea is gaining ground”

To carry out this work, an audit was conducted by Adelphe, an eco-organisation commissioned by the State to reduce the environmental impact of packaging. “A big day of work that allowed us to really become aware of our room for improvement”, says Diana Pairelle, operations manager of Coteaux du Pic, a cooperative winery in Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers that brings together around a hundred winegrowers who produce Pic Saint Loup and that produces “a little over 3 million bottles per year”.

“The diagnosis revealed, which was a surprise to us, that we were putting 1,900 tonnes of packaging on the market, 1,400 of which were glass alone“. In the long term, this means a huge reduction, with the weight of a bottle potentially ranging “from 390 grams of glass to 900 grams or even 1 kilo, all of which ends up crushed at the end of the cycle”, recalls Linda Filone. “However, customer acceptability must be taken into account. Because in the imagination, a good wine can only be contained in a heavier bottle. When we launched the process, our salespeople were actually reluctant. And then, little by little, the idea is gaining ground,” intervenes the cellar manager, Michel Marty. The bag-in-boxes will also be redesigned, for example by using transparent plastic rather than aluminum, because it is easier to recycle.

Simple changes

In the meantime, in just a few months, nearly 60 tons of packaging have already been saved “with a few very simple changes,” continues Diana Pairelle. “For example, there are thinner dividers in the boxes. For these, shorter flaps which, incidentally, make handling easier. With this, if we reduce the weight of each bottle by 100 grams, we can save up to 3 kilos per box“. And a lighter load also means a carbon footprint that is reduced during transport to store shelves or restaurants.

“This work will allow us to think differently upstream of the creation of a new product. We can also favor shorter caps, more refined labels, remove collars”, summarizes Michel Vidal. He has led his team of 34 people, all professions combined, in a more global CSR approach. “With major objectives, too, of reusing and optimizing waste through effective sorting. We collect plastics that can be recycled, we have invested in a press to compact cardboard”. “All these reduction levers are easily duplicable”, assures Linda Filone. Inter Oc is therefore preparing to launch a new call for applications, to encourage other companies to benefit in turn from a diagnosis and support towards ever more ecological wines… and not just in the bottle.

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