Earlier this month, Global Drinks Intel announced the winners of its inaugural ESG Awards. Here’s a look at why the winners won.
Global Travel Retail Green Product – Quintessential Brands for Greenall’s Gin paper bottle
When Quintessential Brands unveiled the paper bottle concept for its Greenall’s gin brand, the London-based company claimed to be one of the first to bring the format to the global retail channel. The pack is fully recyclable, with the outer paper casing and cap suitable for curb-side recycling while the pouch can be dropped either at collection points at multiple retailers or recycling centres.
Made from 94% recycled paperboard, with a food-grade pouch holding the gin, the 70cl bottle is five times lighter than the standard glass version. Not only that, but its carbon footprint is also six times lower and the water footprint is four times lower. The figures provided by Quintessential cite a carbon footprint for the pack of 91.9kg/CO2e [carbon dioxide equivalent] per unit versus 558.2kg/CO2e for a traditional glass bottle.
The rollout was supported by a tie-up with climate action organisation Ecologi that saw one tree planted “in areas of the world that are in most need” per paper bottle sold.
Based in north-west England, G&J Distillers, where Greenall’s and several other brands owned by Quintessential are produced, sources all its energy from offshore wind farms, with none of its waste going to landfill/incineration.
Special Commendation – Brown-Forman for Jack Daniel’s 5cl bottles
The judging panel was also keen to highlight Brown-Forman’s repackaging project this year for Jack Daniel’s miniatures in the US region of GTR. While the 5cl bottles for the flagship American whiskey already used around 15% of ‘post-consumer recycled material, Brown-Forman increased the level to “up to” 100% for US airlines and onboard.
The move is expected to “reduce the annual use of single-use plastic material by up to 141 tons across all domestic transportation sales” of the mini version, the company’s GTR division said. Adding the estimated reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of around 25% resulted in a special commendation from the panel, based on the scale of the move’s impact.
Subscribe to Global Drinks Intel in October for 50% off the usual annual cost
