Paper wine bottles set to hit shelves by middle of next year

Paper wine bottles could be on supermarket shelves as early as next summer.

British business GreenBottle, which launched a paper milk bottle into Asda stores in the South West in January, this week announced it had developed a version for wine.

The bottles are produced from paper pulp that is moulded into shape and lined with thin plastic – when the bottle is empty, consumers can tear out the plastic lining and either recycle the paper bottle or compost it.

“The best thing is that consumers just ‘get it’,” said GreenBottle inventor Martin Myerscough. “We’re hopeful the success we’ve had in milk can be repeated with wine.”

The Suffolk-based business is now in talks with wine producers – including major supermarket ownlabel suppliers and brands – about rolling out paper wine bottles, which it said were comparable in cost to glass ones.

“How quickly this happens will depend on the speed suppliers want to go at, but I would hope to see something on shelf by the middle of next year in the UK,” said GreenBottle MD Andy Brent.

The product was particularly attractive to wine suppliers as it was much lighter than a glass bottle. “Weight is a big cost for wine producers,” added Brent, who said the bottle could deliver shelf-life as good, if not better, than bag-in-box formats.

Wine suppliers had asked the company to develop bottles with strong shelf stand-out and among the concepts produced was a paper wine carafe revealed exclusively to The Grocer (see picture) and a bottle inspired by the ‘Gherkin’ in London