Flat plastic wine bottles are shape of the future

Boxed wines and plastic bottles may once have been associated with cheap plonk but a new range of fine wines is trying to change that.

The Wine Society, the world’s oldest co-operative wine club, is selling four of its most popular wines in recycled, flat bottles made out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint.

Dom de Ville, head of sustainability for the company, said that the manufacture and disposal of glass bottles accounted for nearly a third of the Society’s total carbon footprint, which it has pledged to halve by 2032.

In a bid to find sustainable alternatives, it launched a study examining what packaging would reduce the carbon load without affecting wine quality. He said: “The recycled