n the news: Last weekend while wandering down the aisles of our local grocery store a bottle of wine caught my eye. It was not what was inside the bottle that got my attention, but what the bottle was made of, cardboard.
According to Food & Wine Magazine, The Frugal Bottle is a 750-milliliter bottle “made from 94 percent recycled paperboard with a food-grade liner to hold the wine or spirit,” according to Frugalpac.
- Not only is it “comparable in cost to a labeled glass bottle,” but it can also “be refrigerated and keeps the liquid cooler for longer.
Naturally, the company offers an environmental pitch, as well. “Our mission is to design, develop and supply sustainable packaging. The Frugal Bottle is up to five times lighter than a glass bottle, has a carbon footprint up to six times lower, and is easy to recycle again,” explained Frugalpac chief executive Malcolm Waugh. “We’ve had fantastic feedback from people who’ve trialed the Frugal Bottle.
- As well as the superior environmental benefits, it looks and feels like no other bottle you have ever seen.”
Digging into the specifics, a Frugal Bottle weighs about 3 ounces, whereas glass bottles can weigh about a pound. Additionally, Frugalpac says that beyond offering a carbon footprint that is 84 percent lower than a glass bottle, it’s also “more than a third less than a bottle made from 100 paper recycled plastic,” with a “water footprint is also at least four times lower than glass.” And, yes, the paper bottle is easy to recycle—because the liner inside is removable: “Simply separate the plastic food-grade liner from the paper bottle and put them in your respective recycling bins.”