Diageo is exploring new and novel alternatives to glass to find the next generation of lightweight, convenient packaging. On Johnnie Walker, working with Pilot Lite, the brand is developing the world’s first PET-free paper-based spirits bottle. In addition, its alcohol-free spirit brand, Seedlip has been experimenting with a home-compostable Mycelium gift carton.
”Making alcohol a more sustainable product from grain to glass will require us to be more collaborative than ever before
Reuse by creating new networks and models
Making alcohol a more sustainable product from grain to glass will require us to be more collaborative than ever before. In Southeast Asia, Diageo has partnered with ecoSPIRITS to pilot an on-trade refillable dispense system, starting with its iconic brands Smirnoff and Captain Morgan. The trial will deploy branded, next-generation packaging technologies to bottle, distribute and dispense spirits in select bars and restaurants. The ecoSPIRITS closed-loop system will help reducing carbon footprint and waste from single-use glass spirits bottles.
Innovative bottles reuse in Thailand
In Thailand, Diageo teamed up with an unusual partner, the Bangkok Flower Centre who has found an innovative use for empty Johnnie Walker bottles: orchid cultivation. It turns out that the iconic shape of the Johnnie Walker bottle makes it ideal for parts of the orchid growing process. So, since September 2019, Diageo has sent thousands of empty bottles to the Bangkok Flower Centre, where expert growers use them to house orchid tissue cultures. By ensuring the bottles get a second life with more great contents, this projects also helped tackling the problem of empty bottles being collected and used by counterfeiters.
