Event Wine Solutions : a journey to sustainability
They say a leopard can ’ t change its spots but in the fast-paced world of event sustainability this kind of superpower has become an essential survival skill . When Event Wine Solutions founder Paul Scaife and his team decided to take a long , hard look at their wine packaging in 2016 and assess the carbon footprint that it produced , they had no idea of the journey it would take them on .
2016
This desire to assess the impact of their packaging led the team to explore its entire lifecycle by visiting the Grist Environmental ‘ zero-to-landfill ’ recycling plant in Wiltshire where they found out exactly what happens to the wine bottles once they leave a festival site . Horrified to discover the complexity of the recycling process , they learned that major changes to their multi-layered PET ( plastic ) product had to be made , and they made a pledge to turn this dream into a reality .
Event Wine Solutions founder Paul Scaife and colleague at Grist Environmental recycling plant in Wiltshire
2018
The next phase of their analysis saw them engage circular economy consultants Connor Bryant and Jack Schneider of Rubbish Ideas to take a deep dive into the carbon produced throughout the product ’ s lifecycle and compare this against different packaging solutions . Rubbish Ideas quickly arrived at the conclusion that a mono-layer , clear plastic bottle which was made from
“ We were pleased to welcome Event Wine Solutions to our recycling facility back in 2016 where they embarked upon the task of producing wine packaging that was fully recyclable in practical terms . Advising them on the oftencomplex recycling process enabled us to work together to arrive at a more environmentally friendly wine packaging solution for the events industry .”
Jonathan Taylor , head of projects , Grist Environmental
100 % recycled material ( and again , 100 % recyclable after use ), was the only real contender - but finding a supplier for this would take another two years of research and development work .
The insight of their carbon comparison study enabled Event Wine Solutions to confidently choose 100 % recycled rPET as the best vessel for their wine products , marrying both a carbon footprintfriendly option with the traditional winedrinking format that consumers enjoy .
Event Wine Solutions also ran their ideas and carbon comparison study past the eagle eye of the Clean Earth Collective ’ s Al Chisholm , who they met whilst he was carbon auditing End of the Road and 2000 Trees in 2019 . Clean Earth Collective took on the task of auditing the carbon produced by Event Wine Solutions ’ packaging to be able to offset it all .
2020
Product innovation across the recycling industry made strides forwards over the next two years and when a partner was finally found who could blow
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