Diageo has unveiled its latest sustainable packaging pilot, this time targeting the on-premise channel.
The trial, which kicks off this week and runs until mid-October, sees 250 paper-based bottles for the Black Label expression of blended scotch Johnnie Walker behind the bar at the brand’s Princes Street site in Edinburgh. The units comprise 90% paper with a “very thin” plastic liner that is not attached to the paper layer.
The brand owner hopes to learn “how bartenders interact with and pour from the bottle and how the bottle fares in a bar environment”.
Coming four months after Diageo launched a similar trial in Spain featuring miniatures for cream liqueur Baileys, the group said its design team took learnings forward from the summer project to help with the Black Label pack. While the bottle’s stopper is not recyclable – “alternative solutions are in development” – the bottles themselves are, with the liner not requiring disassembly prior to entering the recycling process.
“This test allows us to explore new packaging in the high intensity environment of the on-trade,” said Johnnie Walker’s global brand director, Jennifer English. “We are pioneering new packaging solutions and shaping the future of the industry.”
Earlier this month, Diageo announced the “world’s lightest whisky glass bottle”, also for Johnnie Walker, although the 180g pack is not yet in a position to be mass-produced.
