Waitrose has trialled the removal of neck sleeves on its own brand Loved & Found wine range of grape varieties and wine regions in a bit to reduce unnecessary packaging
Waitrose will now sell the first four Loved & Found wines in sleeveless bottles. (Credit: John Lewis Partnership Plc)
Waitrose, a portfolio company of the UK-based John Lewis Partnership, has announced a test selling of new wine bottles without plastic and foil sleeves around the bottle’s neck.
Waitrose has trialled the removal of neck sleeves on its own brand Loved & Found wine range of grape varieties and wine regions.
The move intends to eliminate the need to cut and tear off the packaging during the opening of the bottle of wine.
The British supermarket chain will initially trial four bottles without neck sleeves, which are officially known as capsules.
At the end of 2023, Waitrose aims to remove the neck sleeves from the full range of 10 Loved & Found wines as part of its plans to reduce unnecessary packaging.
Waitrose MW and Beer, Wine and Spirit sourcing manager Barry Dick said: “Nowadays few people have wine cellars and those who do tend to keep them in much better conditions. This has meant that the sleeves have remained for purely aesthetic reasons and are no longer needed to protect wine.
“The quality of corks used by the wine industry has also been dramatically improved. The bottles in our trial will be corked with a new FSC cork which has been extensively tried and tested for its ability to resist being contaminated with TCA, which makes corks smell and taste mouldy and ruins wine.
“TCA is the reason why cork fell out of favour, but cork has great sustainability credentials which is why it’s making a comeback. The bottles look quite different as the neck appears naked, so it will be interesting to see how our customers react to us removing these familiar sleeves. I for one am looking forward to not having to wrestle with the packaging.”
The company expects that the plan to eliminate the capsules on its range of 10 Loved and Found wines will save half a tonne of unnecessary packaging annually.
John Lewis Partnership owns and operates two UK-based retail brands, John Lewis and Waitrose.
In January this year, the supermarket unveiled its plans to produce its own brand of tea bags home compostable to reduce pollution.