Research and Markets, an international market research institution, recently released an analysis report on the global alcohol and beverage market from 2024 to 2032. The report pointed out that the market is expected to experience strong expansion during the forecast period, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.02%. According to the report, the potential growth of the market is mainly attributed to multiple factors, including population growth, increased disposable income, changes in consumer preferences, and worsening environmental issues, which will affect the production and consumption patterns of the industry, drive demand, and encourage responsible innovation by manufacturers.

The report highlights that "consumer preferences are rapidly changing." This trend is manifested in consumers' more obvious pursuit of high-end products, particularly in the spirits category. At the same time, health-conscious consumers are also demanding more sustainable alternatives, and paying more attention to eco-friendly packaging. In fact, liquor brands have already responded actively to this sustainable trend.

Promote the concept of sustainable packaging starting from the bottle.

The use of alcoholic beverages and glass bottles are closely related. In terms of glass bottle packaging, more and more liquor groups and their brands have begun to join the queue of glass recycling, catering to the demand for eco-friendly packaging from liquor consumers, while practicing the company's commitment to sustainability.

At the beginning of this year, the Diageo Group's single malt Scotch whisky brand Bruichladdich launched two new fine wines - the Bruichladdich 18-year-old single malt Scotch whisky and the Bruichladdich 30-year-old single malt Scotch whisky. In terms of bottle design, the brand adopted a brand-new patented bottle shape, with a recycled glass content of up to 60%; at the same time, the raw materials of the paper-plastic gift box used for product packaging are recyclable sugarcane pulp and bamboo pulp, to meet the pollution-free and degradable eco-friendly function.

Left: Bruichladdich 18-year-old/30-year-old Single Malt Scotch Whisky Right: Limited edition Tyuska Single Malt Whisky with an eco-friendly theme. Image source: Bruichladdich, Tyuska

Similarly, in the limited edition "Born by the Sea" eco-friendly theme released by Talisker, a brand under the Diageo spirits group last year, the bottle body was made of 100% recycled glass for the first time, and the packaging design of the product was box-free, further interpreting the concept of sustainable packaging. It is worth mentioning that this new eco-friendly bottle is the brand's first product collaboration since it reached a long-term environmental protection plan with the international marine conservation organization Parley for the Oceans in 2020.

In addition to the product end, liquor groups are also actively promoting the longer-term development of glass recycling. From 2023, Pernod Ricard China has joined hands with Shanghai Yanlongji Recycling Resources Utilization Co., Ltd. to explore and pilot innovative projects in the field of glass recycling, and announced the preliminary results of the pilot project on this year's World Environment Day (June 5): During the project period of less than one year, the two sides jointly made efforts to achieve an incremental recovery of 4,200 tons of glass in Shanghai and Harbin, which is equivalent to recycling 8.4 million 500-gram wine bottles.

Pernod Ricard China and its cooperative enterprises are exploring innovative ways to recycle and reuse glass from slag. Image source: Pernod Ricard China

At the same time, design schemes with alternative materials as the mainstay for wine bottles are also constantly being introduced to explore more possibilities for eco-friendly wine bottles. In 2022, Royal Salute, a Scotch whisky brand under Pernod Ricard, released a new package for its classic Royal Salute 21 (70CL) glass bottle, gradually replacing its iconic ceramic bottle with a brand-new coated glass bottle. This is also the first environmentally friendly packaging launched by Royal Salute in response to an important sustainability commitment by the group, that is, by 2025, all product packaging of brands under the group will be recyclable, degradable, and reusable, as well as bio-based. According to official information, compared with ceramics, the coated glass bottle uses a lower-energy-intensive production process, which will reduce more than 70% of the carbon footprint in the product packaging process, and the glass material is also easier to recycle.

Royal Salute 21 (70CL) with coated glass bottle. Image source: Royal Salute

It is worth noting that the lightweight design of glass liquor bottles is also a major trend in the practice of eco-friendly packaging. Currently, Pernod Ricard's cognac brand Martell pays attention to lighter materials and design schemes in product packaging, and also chooses renewable and sustainable materials for packaging boxes and wine labels to reduce carbon emissions in packaging.

Focus on food waste and pay attention to the problem of food waste.

While emphasizing the environmental friendliness of liquor bottles, some emerging liquor brands have set their sights on the raw materials of liquor in order to reduce food waste and introduce sustainable alternatives to spirits. Penrhos Spirits, a British spirits brand founded in 2018, is one of the practitioners. The brand's founders are two gin enthusiasts who are passionate about field farming, and the brand uses fruits grown on its own farm and orchard to produce uniquely flavored gin. On the product structure, 10-30 billion yuan product operating income was 401/1288/60 million yuan respectively.

Penrhos Spirits' liquor products use 100% recycled aluminum bottles. Picture source: Penrhos Spirits

Harriet Williams, sales director of the Penrhos brand, pointed out that unsold fruits are often not fully utilized and can only be treated as waste. According to The Spirits Business, a well-known British liquor media, the brand is currently reducing its own planting scale and using unsold crops recovered from nearby farm orchards as its brewing raw materials in response to this waste phenomenon.

Discarded Spirits, a sustainable liquor brand under William Grant & Sons, an independent liquor manufacturer founded in 2018, is another company committed to solving waste problems. The company is dedicated to using food waste materials to produce liquor without affecting taste and quality. Currently, the brand mainly offers three types of liquor, including absinthe made from coffee husks (i.e. waste from coffee berries), rum made from discarded banana peels, and vodka made from grape waste.

The three sustainable liquor brands Discarded Spirits launched to solve the problem of food waste. Picture source: Discarded Spirits

There are also two sustainable liquor brands, Sapling Spirits and Wheyward Spirits, both founded in 2018. The former launched raspberry and hibiscus-flavored vodka last year, which is based on combating food waste. The latter is committed to using leftover whey in the cheese-making process to produce liquor products. In addition, Foxhole Spirits, a sustainable gin brand founded in 2016, whose main product HYKE is also made from grapes recovered from unsold supermarket supply chains. Meanwhile, London based distillery Hayman's launched a sustainable vodka named "Respirited" in 2022, which is made by re-distilling grain spirits recovered during the production process.

This year's outdoor advertisement for the sustainable vodka Respirited is "This Vodka is Rubbish". Picture source: thespiritsbusiness

However, despite the fact that these emerging sustainable brands aim to solve the problem of food waste, The Spirits Business pointed out in an article entitled "Waste not, want not: the rise of discarded spirits" that one of the major obstacles faced by liquor brands that make use of food waste as their raw material is consumer awareness, which is rooted in the notion of 'garbage in, garbage out.' In fact, these food waste usually refers to agricultural products that are oversized, deformed, overstocked, or leftover from processing crops in the supply chain.

At the same time, for these liquor manufacturers and brands, using residual or waste materials to produce liquor also faces challenges. Sam Trevethyen, global brand ambassador for Discarded Spirits, pointed out that common production problems can become more complex when using materials that are "not selected, processed, and fully qualified by us," because "in essence, these are things that some people no longer need," which increases the difficulty of maintaining consistency in processing standards. Nevertheless, Trevethyen also stated, "we want to tell consumers that when you start looking at waste in different ways and start to be more creative, you can do more."

Image source: wineenthusiast.com/ Joel Goldberg. The picture is from the internet and the copyright belongs to the original author.