Waitrose is responding to demand for lightweight packaging from festival-goers with a range of wine in plastic bottles.
The retailer is testing the waters with the launch later this month of new screw-top bottles made from the plastic polyethylene terephthalate.
Shiraz and Chenin Blanc will be the first to go on sale in the new bottles in selected stores across the UK (rsp: £5.49).
Waitrose wine buyer Nick Room stressed the change on packaging would not impact on taste.
“Wine-drinkers can be quite precious about compromising on taste and quality, which is something we have been very careful to ensure doesn’t happen with the new plastic packaging," he said.
Last year 813 million bottles of wine were consumed in the UK, using nearly half a million tonnes of glass.
Waitrose said if the trial was successful, it could transport 60% more 75cl bottles per lorry thanks to the reduction in glass usage.
Read more
M&S switches 25cl wine to plastic bottles (5 May 2010)
Waitrose drops pouch milk after poor uptake (3 April 2010)
Focus On Packaging (30 January 2010)
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