Frugalpac has marked the third birthday of its paper bottle with the launch of France’s first paper bottle in Paris at the British Embassy. 

The Frugal Bottle is now being used by more than 30 brands, in 100 SKUs in 25 countries including major wine producing countries like France, Spain, Italy, the US, New Zealand and Australia and have saved over nearly 740 tonnes of CO2e.

More than 1.6 million Frugal Bottles have been produced and sold around the world since the revolutionary paper bottle launched three years ago. That means the bottles have saved a staggering 746 tonnes of CO2e and 4.4 million litres of water, compared to glass bottles.

By the end of 2023 this will rise to 2.5m bottles produced and 1,165 tonnes of CO2e and 6.9 million litres of water saved.

Three years since launching the world’s first and only commercially available paper bottle for wines, spirits and olive oils in July 2020, Frugalpac is marking a significant milestone as France becomes the latest country to bottle and sell wine in its paper Frugal Bottles.

Frugalpac currently has at least five serious requests from French companies to buy a Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine and install them in France and 63 other French beverage brands looking to use its paper bottles.

Frugalpac was invited to a garden party for the King’s Birthday in Paris at the British Ambassador’s official residence last week to launch the new French wine and display its wider achievements, which include being named Small Business of the Year at the UK Green Business Awards.

The innovative collaboration between French retailer Le Petit Ballon, wine producer Château Malijay and La Bouteille Qui Cartonne is an important step in the expansion of Frugal Bottles in France. The Mistral Gourmand 2021 Côtes du Rhône cuvée in the Frugal Bottle is currently on sale until August in a commercial trial by the retailer.

Le Petit Ballon has already distributed 5,000 of the paper bottles to their wine subscribers and the response has been “excellent.” Frugalpac’s Bordeaux-shaped bottle is made from 94% recycled paperboard with a food-grade pouch to hold the liquid.

Weighing just 83g before filled, it is five times lighter, and uses six times less carbon and energy to produce and dispose of than a glass bottle, meaning it has a carbon footprint 84% lower than glass. Frugalpac aims to decarbonise the global drinks industry by selling its Frugal Bottle assembly machines (“FBAM-1”) into local wine regions.

As glass bottles account for 40% of a drinks producer’s carbon footprint, drinks producers around the world are switching from carbon-heavy glass bottles, to more sustainable drinks packaging, as they look to reduce their environmental impact.

To mark the third anniversary of the paper bottle’s launch, Frugalpac delivered a very upbeat update on its progress:

• Its first Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine sold for export will be operational in Canada in the next few months and will double capacity for paper bottle production to 5 million paper bottles a year.
• Four other sales of Frugal Bottle machines are ‘imminent’.
• Frugalpac has global enquires to make over 120 million Frugal Bottles and produce more than 100 Frugal Bottle Assembly Machines for export.
• Frugalpac now has bottle filling facilities most recently in California, Australia, South Africa, Italy, Canada, Spain, Scandinavia, France and the UK.
• A recent poll of nearly 2,500 wine merchants and producers by ProWein found 11% of traders around the world plan to list paper wine bottles in their stores in the next two years. This figure rose to 14% in the US, 29% of traders in the UK and a third (33%) in Norway

Gilles Raison, Group CEO of Le Petit Ballon who is selling the first French paper bottle in their stores in Paris and Lyon and online said: “In the world of wine, glass has always been an important raw material. Unfortunately, it has a high carbon footprint. “Faced with this challenge, we decided to use the paper bottle as a sustainable alternative as it is made of 94% recycled paperboard with a carbon footprint six times smaller than the glass bottle.

“It’s also 5 times lighter, it is also easier to transport. What doesn’t change is the taste and it can even be kept for more than 12 months. The icing on the cake is that once empty, the bottle can be recycled by separating the liner from the paper shell.

“85% of the bottles sold in France are consumed in the year following their purchase, hence the consistency of using a paper bottle which is lighter and less energy-intensive in its production than a glass bottle.

“We sent it to over 5,000 of our subscribers to test the reactions, and the feedback has been excellent.”

Frugalpac CEO Malcolm Waugh commented: “It’s really encouraging to hear the Frugal Bottle is receiving such a positive reaction from French consumers.

“Though France is considered more conservative and traditional in its approach to wine packaging, it appears the Frugal Bottle with ChâteauMalijay and La Bouteille Qui Cartonne is proving to be very popular. It was a great honour to be invited to take the French Frugal Bottle and our bottles with other brands from around the world to the British Ambassador’s residence.

“We’ve come a long way in the last three years from one drinks producer using our Frugal Bottle to over 30 worldwide. “We’re about to double paper bottle production capacity and with four other sales of our Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine imminent that could take us to 15m million bottles produced every year.

“This isn’t a flash in the pan or a novelty. Research shows there is a growing market for paper bottles from consumers to sellers. 11% of traders planning to list paper bottles is a huge opportunity when you consider they globally sell 23.2 billion litres of wine a year.

“It’s time for drinks brands, bottlers and co-packers to seize the moment and prepare for the future by acquiring their own Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine.

“The paper bottle revolution is in full flow, there’s no stopping it and it’s time for producers and packers to come and join it.”

Since launching the first paper bottle in July 2020 with award-winning Umbrian winery Cantina Goccia, the bottle and its contents – a red wine called 3Q – sparked immediate interest and global acclaim.

The launch proved so successful that Cantina Goccia has now just released a new trio of wines – a Bianco (white), Rosato (rosé) and Rosso (red) in Frugal Bottles. They have also committed to producing 80% of their wine in paper bottles.

Ceri Parke, co-owner of Cantina Goccia said: “We knew we were taking a risk when we moved from glass to the paper bottle. Many people questioned our sanity! But we knew the consumer was looking for a lighter and more sustainable way to buy wine.

“The response from the consumer has been remarkable. Our first wine in the Frugal Bottle sold out and three years on all our new wines are exclusively in the paper bottle and now offer a dedicated filling facility to allow other brands to move to paper too.”                         
 
Subsequent producers including Greenall’s Gin and When in Rome wines have won listings in Sainsbury’s and Ocado, while Welsh brand Flawless Flavoured Vodka débuted its paper bottles on Tesco shelves this April.

Other brands now using the Frugal Bottle include The English Vine’s No1 white wine, Signal 7 Wines in the US, Spain’s Planet B by Bodegas Murviedro, Interpunkt wines in collaboration with South Africa’s Journey’s End, UK-basedwine brand Savvy Pair, Spain’s Bodegas Fernando Castro organic wines, 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 and vodka, Greenall’s Greener Gin, a Mexican organic tequilaBuen Vato from Sweden’s Alias Smith, a French Calvados from Avallen Spirits, Half Shell Vodka by Florida’s Distillery 98, cocktails by Bottle Proof Cocktails, flavoured vodka by south Wales’ Flawless Vodkas, Wildjac rum from the UK, Wisconsin-based Demon Spirits rum, fourgins by New Zealand based UK expats Mothers Ruined and Italy’s Evviva and Greece’s AONES for olive oil.  

Imminent releases in the Frugal Bottle include wines from Spanish producer Bodegas Alodia, Australian Mother of Pearl Vodka, Swedish Silk Shot cocktail by Tapdance and in the UK and US Alchemy’s 100 year old Tempranillo and 12 Giants wines. 

Paper bottles from When in Rome wine and Greenall’s Greener Gin were also at Glastonbury festival, which bans festival goers from taking glass on to the site Coldplay also become the first musical act in the world to use paper wine bottles at a gig closely followed by Pulp at their Scarborough open air gig.

All 8,274 bottles of white and rosé wines provided by When in Rome in the Frugal Bottle sold out at Coldplay’s recent four Etihad gigs in Manchester.

Images and video of the Frugal Bottles can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G6HIX798UcIrGVEB5cwBHN3VYJmP6cAy?usp=sharing