British sustainable packaging company Frugalpac has secured the first customer for its paper bottle machine which makes the Frugal Bottle – the world’s first and only commercially available wine, spirits and olive oil bottle made from recycled paper.
Canadian packaging firm KinsBrae Packaging has agreed a deal to buy the first Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine – called FBAM-1 and install it in Canada.
Canada is already selling wine in the Frugal Bottle through its LCBO stores across Ontario. The wine in the Frugal Bottle, 3Q by award winning Italian winery Cantina Goccia, is proving to be very popular with Ontarian wine lovers who want to drink more sustainably.
Frugalpac’s CEO Malcolm Waugh announced the deal at the London Wine Fair, one of the largest wine fairs in the world – two years after launching the first Frugal Bottle in June 2020 with Cantina Goccia’s 3Q wine in the UK.
The FBAM-1 is capable of producing more than two and a half million Frugal Bottles a year.
Now over 25 different drinks producers from around the world have launched wines, spirits and olive oils in the Frugal Bottle.
They include The English Vine’s No1 white wine, Signal 7 Wines in the US, Spain’s Planet B by Bodegas Murviedro and a range of red, white and rosé wines from the UK’s leading provider of wine in alternative packaging, When In Rome.
It’s also used by NB Distillery’s School Night and Silent Pool’s Green Man for gin, a Mexican organic tequila Buen Vato from Sweden’s Alias Smith, a French Calvados from Avallen Spirits and Italy’s Evviva and Greece’s AONES for olive oil.
Future releases in the Frugal Bottle will include wines from Spanish producer Fernando Castro and a vodka from Organika.
KinsBrae Packaging, which is based in Cambridge, Ontario, will seek to meet the local Canadian and USA demand of the total global 120 million Frugal Bottles enquiries received by Frugalpac. This huge enquiry list is driven by the fact Frugal Bottles are made from 94% recycled paperboard, are five times lighter than a glass bottle and use 84% less carbon than glass.
Frugalpac also has strong enquiries from 87 other international brand, contract packing and packaging companies to buy Frugal Bottle Assembly Machines in the next few months and is calling on other firms to help them meet the ‘paper bottle revolution’ by investing in their own Frugal Bottle machines.
Frugalpac was recently praised by the UK Government’s Department for International Trade’s GREAT Britain campaign as one of the UK organisations “doing incredible things to help build a global sustainable future” in the run up to last year’s COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow.
The company’s vision is to place bottling machines in the heart of bottling plants, co-packers or packaging companies around the world to reduce the carbon footprint of its sustainable packaging even further – creating eco-friendly Frugal Bottle hubs around the world.
The Frugal Bottle is made from 94% recycled paperboard with a food grade pouch and offers 360-degree branding for exceptional shelf stand-out. Polling by Survation found that 63% of UK wine drinkers would buy wine in a paper bottle.
Frugalpac Chief Executive Malcolm Waugh said:
“2022 is proving to be the year of the paper bottle and we’re thrilled to be selling our first Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine platform to KinsBrae Packaging.
“Whilst we currently produce Frugal Bottles in Ipswich, this partnership will allow us to have a mainland presence in North America, reducing the carbon footprint of our bottles even further. We’re proud to have this relationship with KinsBrae Packaging who have a strong track record of producing and supplying sustainable packaging. Now we’re asking other packaging companies, bottlers and co-packers to join our paper bottle revolution by investing in their own Frugal Bottle machines.
“It is clear consumers are keen on more sustainable forms of packaging and this is a great opportunity for packaging companies, bottlers and the print industry.
“Frugalpac already has enquiries to order more than 120 million Frugal Bottles from drinks and olive oil brands around the world and KinsBrae will play a massive part in meeting this global demand.
“We currently have a further 87 companies keen to acquire a Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine. Our aim is to place these paper bottle machines at the heart of a bottling plant, co-packers or local packaging companies so we can reduce the carbon footprint of our sustainable packaging even further and have Frugal Bottle hubs around the world.
“We’re looking to save the planet one bottle at a time, and we welcome KinsBrae to the paper bottle revolution!”
KinsBrae Packaging’s President and CEO Shawn Bonnick said:
“KinsBrae Packaging is proud to be the first packaging company in the world to acquire a Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine to supply Frugal Bottles to the growing wine and spirits businesses in Canada.Our company knows that sustainable packaging isn’t a flash in the pan. It’s what our customers now expect.
“We already produce and supplying sustainable packaging with our Eco Six Pack Rings for cans and cans for wine, and we are really excited to be able to offer the world’s first commercially available paper bottle to our existing and new clients.
“We were particularly impressed by the rapid sales of the Frugal Bottles and the impressive global need for the Frugal Bottle. It’s clear that there’s a significant consumer desire for innovative packaging that’s not only sustainable but also stands out with 360-degree branding.
“Being placed in Canada, KinsBrae is also perfectly positioned to export Frugal Bottles to the USA
“We’re looking forward to meeting this demand and playing our part in helping to decarbonise the food and drink packaging industry of North America.”