The UK is the world’s largest wine importer, with more than 1.3 billion litres entering the country each year with a retail value of around £7.6 billion. Over half of this wine is imported from the New World.

Imported wine brings an influx of predominantly green bottles into the country which then enters the waste stream. Bulk importation of wine, with bottling in the country of sale, has been proposed as a means of both reducing the amount of glass imported into the UK, and providing a market for green glass through increased local production of wine bottles.

Benefits of bulk importation
Bulk importation offers several key benefits to businesses. A standard container holds 12,000 to 13,000 wine bottles whereas a standard flexitank, used for bulk importation, holds a volume of equivalent to 32,000 bottles of wine resulting in substantial transport cost savings (WRAP estimate up to 40%).

By deferring the date of bottling, bulk shipping also delays the start of a wine’s shelf life; the risk of damage to bottles and labels is reduced when the product is filled closer to the destination point; and bottling in the country of sale means more flexibility to respond to customers’ orders and promotional or seasonal uplifts.

In addition, there is huge potential to reduce CO2 emissions through the bulk importation of wine. An estimated 20% of Australian wine is currently bulk imported into the UK, saving around 11,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

WRAP has also produced a ready reckoner to help retailers and brand owners identify the potential economic benefits for the bulk importation based on their own data. For more details click here.
 

Bottling in the UK
In order to meet increased demand for UK bottling, there has been a substantial growth in the domestic bottling capacity. It is estimated that in 2000, 100million litres of wine were bottled in the UK, in 2006 this rose to 180million litres and it is estimated that by 2009 the UK will have the potential capacity to bottle approximately 350million litres of wine.