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Diageo to launch Johnnie Walker whisky in paper bottles
- 082349872349872 6y ago> ... ramps up efforts to tackle plastic waste. What kind of savage lets their alcohol touch plastic? ;-)
- twic 6y agoThe kind of savage who drinks Johnnie Walker.
- kgwxd 6y agoI hate Johnnie Walker but I don't think I've ever seen it in a plastic bottle. Isn't is usually glass?
- rjsw 6y agoI'm guessing that bottles sold at airports might be plastic, to save weight and for security reasons.
- smachiz 6y agoI've never seen any Johnnie Walker airport bottles in plastic - at least not full size. I would bet they sell the mini bottles and pints in plastic - but their full size bottles have been glass in every outlet I've seen them.
- jacknews 6y agoit might be in a plastic bottle for vagrants perhaps whisky should be in a glass bottle
- himinlomax 6y ago> is fully recyclable Glass if fully recyclable and reusable.
- alexpotato 6y agoBut is not biodegradable on shorter time scales. e.g. a glass bottle in a woodland setting could stay in that form for thousands of years. A paper bottle would last a few weeks at most.
- catalogia 6y agoGlass bottles in the ocean get chemical and mechanical weathering pretty quickly, being ground away to sand on the order of decades. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_glass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_glass) You can also simply put them through a crusher/pulverize two or three times to turn them back into sand. I'm not really sure intact glass is a big environmental problem though. Animals could get stuck in intact bottles or cut themselves on sharp glass, but otherwise I believe glass is nontoxic, generally quite inert, and as far as nature is concerned indistinguishable from other naturally occurring minerals (obsidian in particular comes to mind.)
- enkid 6y agoIs that really a big deal? Is that form actively harmful? After all, it's mostly melted sand. Seems like it would be no worse than having a rock to me, but I don't know enough to say that definitively.
- Xophmeister 6y agoA shard of glass would be sharp (dangerous to animals that are unfamiliar with it) and could even focus sunlight to start a fire.
- jacknews 6y agowhat does paper/cardboard biodegrade to?
- Spooky23 6y agoEventually, it degrades in the soil. Waxed products and tetra-packs do not, however. When I moved into my home in 2006, I found circa 1985 era milk cartons and juiceboxes buried in the garden. (i think they were used to start seeds) The milk carton was degrading, the juice box, not so much.
- black_puppydog 6y agoWait... they're using plastic bottles right now?! The bottles I know are glass + metal top. perfect for recycling. Am I missing something? Edit: lol okay I'm not the only one. So is it a marketing ploy then?
- etrautmann 6y agoThe little airplane bottles are frequently plastic?
- Zenst 6y agoThat is true, then hotel mini bars, soon stacks up in volume in a way that is easily overlooked, more so when you just see the glass bottle variations.
- ballenf 6y agoI can't remember the last time I saw a stocked hotel mini fridge even before coronavirus. (Why sell Vodka for $10 when you can sell bottled tap water with even higher margins and it's super easy to restock and give away to your frequent travelers?)
- Frost1x 6y agoAside from very large containers of cheaper of "mid tier" quality alcohols and samplers, I've never seen a plastic bottle. For scotch, I've never seen anything but glass and don't believe I'd buy anything but glass. Is there an advantage to paper recycling over glass? I know I've went through the whole "recycle your own paper" project when I was a kid but nothing to the level an industrial plant would likely do. I'm assuming energy requirements may be the same? Paper seems like it might be more difficult in some cases. Way out of my area of expertise.
- jschwartzi 6y agoUsually the rotgut canadian whiskies like Rich & Rare are sold in plastic gallon bottles here.
- raesene9 6y agoI've never seen whisky (Johnnie Walker or others) in a plastic bottle... If the Whisky industry wants to cut down on waste, there's a really easy way to do it. Stop putting whisky into fancy cardboard/metal boxes (or at least offer a version of all your lines without the box). Other spirits do just fine without the fancy box, it's just pure waste (apart from perhaps whisky bought for gifts)
- Arainach 6y agoDirect sunlight quickly (in a matter of a few weeks) affects both the color and taste of whisky. The outer packaging serves a functional role.
- etrautmann 6y agoThen an opaque paper bottle would presumably also work well for this?
- 1996 6y agoI think it is a problem that was already solved by TetraPack for a long time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetra_Pak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetra_Pak
- simlevesque 6y agoit's really useful to see the content of a liquor bottle
- blaser-waffle 6y agoI'll bite: why?
- thebean11 6y agoWhen would it really be in direct sunlight though? I'd imagine sitting on a liquor store shelf wouldn't qualify unless it was in the window or something.
- catalogia 6y agoI believe when a 'bottle' is made out of paper, it's properly called a 'carton'. e.g. a 'carton of milk'
- twic 6y agoI remember buying cartons of red wine in Italy in the mid '90s for a few hundred lire a go. It was diabolically bad. Great days!
- dhimes 6y agoMy boating friends tell me "boxed wine" is making a comeback- especially on boats.
- pantalaimon 6y agoHas it ever been away? It’s usually the cheapest option for 1€/l in supermarkets.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y agoTwenty years or so ago, I recall procuring very large quantities of extremely-mediocre table wine (in France) that came in large, rigid plastic cubes. I don't remember how much these stored, but it was "many litres" and they were dirt cheap.
- dhimes 6y agoI think they mean you are finding better wine in boxes. Like canned beer (also good for boats). It used to be a sign of cheap stuff, now you can find craft beer in cans.
- ballenf 6y agoAnd that's really bagged wine. Inside a cardboard box. So basically a bottle, but floppy, inside a carton.
- jfengel 6y ago
- jey 6y agoWhat's the inside coating made of that doesn't get dissolved away by 40% ethanol solution?
- knodi123 6y agoyeah, my understanding was that most paper packaging these days was lined with a very thin layer of plastic or foil. but "pure paper" is what they're claiming... maybe there's a new tech? or maybe they're doing that cheap marketing trick where you say "20% of the package is made entirely out of nothing but 100% pure paper!"
- beenBoutIT 6y agoIt could be something like a food-safe linoleum coating on the inside surface of the cardboard bottle.
- mattmaroon 6y agoProbably an epoxy that’s sprayed on. That’s what lines aluminum cans.
- ficklepickle 6y agoI just found out about zein[0] the other day. It's made from corn. Not sure about ethanol resistance, though. Wikipedia says it is used to line coffee cups, for example. How often it is used, compared to plastics, I do not know. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zein
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- trekrich 6y agowhats wrong with glass? Its worked for years!
- raducu 6y agoDiageo, ah... the memories, it was nice writing software for them. Actually the coleagues were nice, the software was shitty.
- forgotmypw17 6y agodid you work for a CerTain agency in nyc? ))
- raducu 6y agoNo, I worked for a danish company that worked on very high value added products and products with very high entry costs/moats so they tended to use old technologies, but they delivered ok(ish) products in the end.
- fortran77 6y agoIs it better than glass!?
- jml7c5 6y agoLet's put on the skeptic cap, because "environmentally friendly" packaging is rife with misleading statements. (For an example, the bottled water company "Just Water" notes their plant-based, organic, environmentally friendly packaging can be recycled, but they specifically avoid mentioning it cannot be composted. They even fooled their own PR team.[1]) Pulpex site 'about' page: "NOT Pulp wrapped around plastic" Pulpex site 'about' page: "NOT Pulp-infused into PET" Pilot Lite press release: "...first ever 100% PET free paper-based spirits bottle, made entirely from sustainably sourced wood." Diageo press release: "...100% plastic free and expected to be fully recyclable. The bottle is made from sustainably sourced pulp to meet food-safe standards and will be fully recyclable in standard waste streams." So it's not biodegradable or compostable, but it is recyclable. It doesn't use "plastic", but some component of it presumably does not degrade. So for any chemists: what wood derivative isn't technically a plastic, but is waterproof and does not decompose? ---------------- [1]: https://twitter.com/JUST/status/1068686120995643392 https://twitter.com/JUST/status/1068686120995643392
- beenBoutIT 6y agoMore than waterproof, to securely contain the ethanol in the whiskey it needs to be solvent proof. Sounds like a fluoropolymer coating that isn't technically considered plastic, although it could be glass or aluminum.
- jml7c5 6y agoI think the lining has to be wood-based. The strongest "official" statement is the Pilot Lite press release, and the phrase "bottle, made entirely from sustainably sourced wood" seems too definite to weasel out of. Of course, it is an industry that deals in contortion of language and meaning.
- beenBoutIT 6y agoIn that case the lining could be heat and pressure treated wood, something along the lines of linoleum: https://flaxcouncil.ca/flax-usage/industrial-uses/what-is-linoleum/ https://flaxcouncil.ca/flax-usage/industrial-uses/what-is-li...
- forgotmypw17 6y agoUntil stated otherwise, I'm going to assume these paper bottles will be plastic-lined, like milk "cartons", and so just as non-biodegradeable and non-recyclable. Most of the time I've seen a switch from glass to plastic or "not plastic", the real reason is to cut down on product loss due to glass breakage en route, which is pretty big.
- ergwwrt 6y agoYea and glass is recyclable too
- SenHeng 6y agoIn Japan, liqour is sold in milk cartons. Why doesn't the rest of the world do so? https://i.imgur.com/dD0NB1A.jpg https://i.imgur.com/dD0NB1A.jpg
- ApolloFortyNine 6y agoSome liquor is sold in milk cartons. Having been to Japan, I saw plenty of glass bottles in the liquor stores/7/11s.
- dkdk8283 6y agoWhat a joke. Paper isn’t a suitable container for long term storage of liquid. Paper straws are also a joke. I carry a big bundle of plastic straws in my car now.