The Three Thieves wine company is the first in the U.S. to begin using the Tetra Prisma line of eco-friendly packaging for one of its wine brands. Tetra Prisma packaging is made of of 70 percent paper, and will be used to package Three Thieves’ Bandit line of wines.
Tetra Paks reduce packaging waste associated with bottled wine by 90% and are also far more efficient and lightweight to transport than bottles, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and saving fuel. It would take 26 trucks filled with empty wine bottles to equal just 1 truck filled with empty Tetra Pak cartons. Bandit wines will sell nationally for $8.99 a liter. Varietals include-Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio.
The company is touting this as a more environmentally friendly packaging and while the math on transporting empties - 26 trucks compared to one truck - is compelling, the fact remains that glass wine bottles are extremely recyclable. Are Tetra Paks?
The company says “yes,” and even touts a study purporting to show that Tetra Paks are better for the environment than glass bottles when considered from start to finish.
A study commissioned by Tetra Pak and carried out by Franklin Associates in accordance with ISO standards for life cycle inventory found that Tetra Pak out-performs both glass and PET bottles in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The study evaluated three types of container systems for wine: paperboard containers, glass bottles, and PET bottles. The paperboard containers - which are composed of a laminate of paperboard, aluminum, and polyolefin resins - are manufactured by Tetra Pak and include the Tetra Brik and Tetra Prisma lines. The study even included secondary and tertiary packaging, such as corrugated boxes, used for transporting filled containers from the winery to a distribution center.
Franklin Associates performed a “life cycle inventory” of the various kinds of packaging, looking at five steps for each container system:
- Production of the container materials, which includes all steps from the extraction of raw materials through the production of the component materials of the containers.
- Fabrication of the container systems from their component materials.
- Transportation of empty containers from the container producer to a winery.
- Transportation of filled containers from the winery to a distribution center. (The subsequent transportation from distribution center to retailer is not included in this analysis due to a lack of data as well as the assumption that such a transportation step is negligible in comparison to upstream transportation steps.)
- Post-consumer disposal and recycling of container systems, including recycling, landfill, and combustion scenarios for the United States and Canada.
Glass bottles result in nearly six times the greenhouse gas emissions over their life cycle, and consume the most energy, according to the study, which is summarized recently at TreeHugger.com.
Still, there’s something not quite as romantic about reaching into that picnic basket on the beach at sunset and pulling out essentially an oversized juice box rather than a fancy bottle of wine. I predict Tetra Pak and similar packaging will not supplant glass bottles for most wines any time soon, if ever.
