As Cop26 draws to a close, wine writer Aleesha Hansel has launched a petition at Change.org, aimed at the wine industry, to encourage producers to reduce the weight of their bottles. Heavy bottles leave a heavy environmental footprint, cost more to manufacture and ship, and serve no demonstrable purpose as far as I can tell. It seems like a no-brainer but the industry as always is slow to change.
The petition has three recommendations:
- Wineries should include bottle weight in their tech sheets.
- Wine writers should list the bottle weight in their reviews.
- And everyone should campaign for effective glass recycling programs.
The mitigation of the effects of climate change is a collective action problem. Individual actions have negligible effects. Only when large groups of people act together can we reduce carbon emissions sufficiently to have an appreciable effect. That is why an industry-wide movement toward lighter bottles is so important. Jason Haas at Tablas Creek estimates that his winery’s use of lighter bottles over the past ten years has saved about 685 tons of glass. Multiply that throughout the wine industry and there is considerable savings to be had by reducing bottle weights.
I signed the petition and I encourage my readers to do so as well.
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