What is the GlassRite project?
GlassRite Wine is a WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) supported project, which has been running since 2006. During phase one of the project WRAP worked closely with retailers, brand owners, wine agents, supply chain co-ordinators and UK glass manufacturers to develop new initiatives for increased bulk importation of wine and bottle lightweighting. This pioneering work resulted in an additional 80 million glass bottles of wine being filled in the UK and 11,000 tonnes of glass being diverted from the UK’s waste stream per year. This glass saving equates to 28,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, or taking almost 2,500 cars off the road.
What is Trans Ocean's involvement in the project?
Trans Ocean plays a significant role in the global supply chain of importing bulk wine into the UK. We are working with some of the largest importers in the world and it is integral in our business to be one step ahead when considering external factors like climate change and meeting customer demands.
WRAP’s research investigated the effects of modern bulk transportation on wine quality, to which we were included in the study. This has proven to our advantage that shipping in Flexitanks can be relied upon in terms of preserving the product quality and the integrity of the wine. We believe this is a result of our stringent protocols in our equipment selection, fitting and supplying of our Flexitank products. We are also proud to promote that our VinBulk™ barrier technology has proven to be significantly beneficial to this growing market by minimising the incidence of oxidation and taint in bulk wine. Another positive was that temperature stability was greatly improved when shipping in bulk – therefore the wine is at less at risk to fluctuations compared with bottled wine shipped.
Trans Ocean actively promotes the benefits of liquid bulk shipping because we are confident we can maximise cost savings and make environmental differences for global organisations.
What’s happening next?
WRAP is now launching phase two of GlassRite Wine, the aim is to continue to encourage the bulk importation of wine into the UK by a further 85 million bottles of wine per year and reduce the total glass wine bottle weight by 30,000 tonnes.
International environmental consultancy, WSP Environmental, will lead the next stage of this project, which will also:
- Forecast and quantify the potential demand for bulk importation in the UK, and determine UK manufacturing and filler capacity to handle the increase in volumes;
- Encourage the increased use of recycled content in UK manufactured glass bottles;
- Trial and produce a 300g wine bottle that the wine industry will use;
- Investigate and encourage the lightweighting of champagne and sparkling wine bottles.
Importantly the project will also work within the countries of origin to better understand the social and economic impact that increasing bulk importation to the UK may have on their communities.
Testimonial:
"The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) is delighted that this project has moved on to a second phase. There is still plenty of work to be done with colleagues in the supply chain for wine to ensure that companies benefit fully from the excellent research done during the first phase. There are obvious synergies between optimising business efficiency and minimizing damage to the environment, and the WSTA will be very happy to work with WSP Environmental and WRAP to ensure that the message gets out there."
John Corbet-Milward, Head of Technical and International Affairs at the WSTA