The first impression of a wine is important. So today, focus is as much on the packaging of wine as the contents. For the wine producer, it’s about choosing a packaging that attracts young, trend-conscious consumers without scaring away the old, loyal customers. And of course, they must take sustainability into account.
Skipping the glass bottle and going for a bag-in-box is popular for more unpretentious wines. However, the new PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation Directive) that will soon be introduced in the EU states that packaging must be 80% recyclable, which can be difficult for a bag-in-box today to reach. The bag-in-box consists of a paper box and a plastic bag with a metal component. If these two are not recycled separately, the recycling rate will be much lower than 80%.
So, the box and bag must be more easy to separate to facilitate recycling. When properly separated, the bag and the box can each be recycled, increasing the overall recycling rate to over 90%.
In response to this challenge, Smurfit Westrock, a global packaging company leader in BiBs, has developed its patented EasySplit Bag-in-Box® design. From now on, there is no problem recycling correctly.
But considering it is a patent, the level of innovation was modest.
Read more (and watch a video of this distinctly modest “invention”): Smurfitkappa
