IG news Update,
Gone are the glass and plastic – there’s a new type of wine bottle in town.
Wolfhead Distillery in Amherstburg, Ontario, says the new Vanilla Almond Biscotti Cream Liquor comes in a 100 percent paper bottle.
Wolfhead marketing director Danielle Moldovan said the change to paper came from a sustainability initiative by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
“We’re starting to see this directive coming from the LCBO when it comes to alcohol providers being more eco-friendly, and that was really one of the big pushes for us to start this project.”
paper bottle is cheaper than glass
For the new type of bottle, the distillery hired Kinsbrae Packaging Inc. in Cambridge, Ontario. partnered with.
Sean Bonnick, president and CEO of Kinsbree, said they worked with a company called Frugal to develop the paper bottles for Wolfhead.
He said there are other paper bottles on the market that are just paper mache wrapped around a classic water bottle, but he said it’s “like pulling the wool over the consumer’s eyes.”
But his company and Frugal wanted to create a water bottle that was made entirely of paper.
“We wanted something that was 100 percent paper, and you could basically finish your drink, and take that bottle and throw it straight into the blue bin.”
He said one of the challenges was making a paper bottle that was cost-effective because the environmental benefits would not be substantial “if this bottle was going to cost you six times as much as a glass bottle.”
Moldovan said that the Wolfshed model is actually cheaper than the glass bottles used before, but with them the production time is longer.
“From the initial point of view everything had to be done by hand. It was like we were going back to 2016 when we launched and we were labeling by hand,” she said, adding that they had started to package the wine. A better system has been developed for , but it still takes longer than glass.
2 year waiting to use paper bottle maker
Bonnick said he believes paper wine bottles will take off in the next few years, and the proof is in the orders for his business.
“We are at nearly full capacity of equipment for the next two years with orders across Canada,” he said.
windsor morning8:21paper bottles
Danielle Moldovan, director of marketing for Wolfhead Distillery in Amherstburg, and Shawn Bonnick, CEO of Kinsbrae Packaging Inc. in Cambridge, talk with CBC Windsor Morning host Nav Nanwa about new wine packaged in a paper bottle.
Moldovan said other distilleries in the area haven’t reached out to ask about paper bottles, but believes they will become more popular in the future, as LCBO moves forward with its sustainability program.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of interest in pursuing this, especially if LCBO is going to be more directional to industry in coming up with more eco-friendly packaging solutions.”