Case Study: UK Drinks Sector

Resource efficiency in UK wine

production

Minimising water, material and packaging use in the wine sector.

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

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Front cover photography: Wine bottles

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Resource efficiency in UK wine production

Contents

Contents .................................................................................... 3
Research Summary .................................................................... 4
Organic resource .............................................................................. 4
Product loss avoidance ...................................................................... 6
Packaging ........................................................................................ 7
Water use ........................................................................................ 8
Clean in Place (CIP) .......................................................................... 9
Waste water ................................................................................... 10
Conclusions .................................................................................... 11

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

Research Summary
Wine production in the UK is a very small but growing sector, with over
3.1 million bottles (of all sizes) produced in 20091. This review focuses
on the UK production of wine, but also incorporates the 1.2 billion litres
of bulk wine imported to the UK for bottling (equivalent to 1.6 billion
bottles)2.
The Resource Map for wine shown at the end of this review, identifies
the key inputs for different production stages and the waste and loss
streams that result.
Key opportunities to improve resource efficiency from the winery to the
back of store are outlined.
Key opportunities:
634 tonnes of glass can be conserved by using lighter bottles in line

with industry best practice

Large variations in water use between wineries could be addressed
by better metering supported by a sector-wide benchmarking service
Addressing productions losses which average 3.5%

Organic resource
Over 100 wineries are located in the UK3, most of which are attached to
vineyards. Yield from vineyards varies depending on numerous factors,
two key elements being grape variety and ripeness. According to
industry interviews, yield usually ranges from around 50-60%, but some
wineries achieve 70% - resulting in lower volumes of marc (the solid
grape remains following pressing) produced per litre of wine.
For the 23,835 hectolitres of wine produced in the UK in 20094,
approximately 5,000 tonnes of grapes were consumed, resulting in
1

English Wine Producers, Production Statistics 2010

WRAP (2008) GlassRite Phase 2
3
English Wine Producers English Wine Production Statistics Available from
http://www.englishwine producers.com/stats.htm Accessed 20/05/11
4
English Wine Producers, Production Statistics 2010 note: wine produced in the UK
excluding British wine, and bulk import
2

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

2,000 tonnes of marc5. Marc, a by-product, is typically disposed of on

the vineyard, though does not add much value to the soil. An
opportunity to improve the value of marc exists in controlled
composting, or with possible use in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics
sectors6.
Volumes of marc arising within UK wineries are relatively small and as a
stand-alone feedstock, little value is seen in the use of anaerobic
digestion (AD). However, where a site has organic arisings from other
activities, for example, food waste from a restaurant or hotel on-site, or
where third party facilities could be utilised, then AD may be an option.

Image 1: Wine bottles

5
6

UKVA online sustainable wine survey, 2011

Research from Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, 2011, as reported in Area del Vino
Available at: http://www.winesur.com/news/wine-wastes-for-the-pharmaceuticalindustry

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

Product loss avoidance

Two key factors which can be associated with the processing losses
from wine are:
Losses from the filtration process. For wine this can vary between
0.5% and 3%7; and
Residue from flexitanks used for bulk importing. This is typically less
than 0.5%8.
Filtration losses of UK produced wine plus the residue losses on
flexitanks of wine imported to the UK can be up to 3.5%9 giving rise to a
product loss of 1.1 million litres.
To ensure that the appropriate filtration technology is being used it is
recommended that a review of the existing system be undertaken, in
terms of:
clarification quality;
filtration throughput;
clogging of filter surfaces; and
yield loss ().
Once reviewed, a benchmarking exercise can be undertaken to compare
the performance of the current system with alternative filtration
systems. This will include a cost benefit analysis to establish whether the
capital costs associated with the investment in a new system can be
offset against the reduction in yield losses.
Flexitank losses of 0.5% can be considered a major advancement in
terms of waste prevention since it is reported that an estimated 5% of
raw material is wasted in traditional packaging formats10, e.g. 200kg
metal drums. It is however a significant volume in the context of losses
through bulk importation and it is important to monitor the yield from
the flexitanks to minimise product losses as far as possible.
7

www.winetech.us/4ep
www.myflexitank.com/support.html
9
WRAP (2011) Product losses in the UK drinks sector
10
Personal communication with David Thornton of IBC manufacturer UCON
8

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

Image 2: Wine bottling line

Packaging
Typical packaging for wine is 75cl glass bottles, though other sizes are
also available. Some bulk importation wine is also packaged in bags
(bag-in-box) with a liner bag of metallised or ethylene vinyl alcohol
(EVOH) based plastic and an outer cardboard box. A very small market
is also available for PET packaging for events, airline services and other
niche areas.
The wine sector has made significant advances in lightweighting, with
bottles available from 300g, in comparison to the average of 500g in
200611.Bulk wine importation is associated with low impact packaging,
but UK manufactured wine still appeared to be sourcing bottles from the
higher end of the weight range.
3.17 million bottles of wine were manufactured in the UK and bottled in
200912. If all bottles were light-weighted to best practice weights, a total
of 634 tonnes of glass can be conserved. Although this is small for the
wine sector in total, it is an important area for small manufacturers.

11
12

WRAP (2008) Delivering Wine Bottle Optimisation and Increased Bulk Importation
English Wine Producers, Production Statistics 2010

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

One of the key barriers found to good practice in packaging was the
perception that, as small-scale producers, little was achievable through
innovation. However, several small manufacturers were achieving good
practice, with an example of innovative pallet design (with removed
corners, stabilising pallet structure and minimising product loss from
breakage), apparent at one winery. Several manufacturers stated that
one way packaging (cardboard) was the only option when sourcing
materials from overseas, but this appears not always to be the case as
the study found the use of returnable pallets for bottles received from
France.

Water use
Typical water use in wine production is currently 3.2913 l/litre of product,
though limited data is available for UK wineries. UK production is
typically fairly small and survey evidence14 suggests that far higher
consumption of water is apparent at many small wineries reaching up to
46l/litre of product. These high figures of water use include domestic
water. Making allowances for domestic consumption it is estimated that
water use at wineries is in the range 1.5-14.8l/litre. Little in the way of
technical advancement was seen in the equipment used primarily
because of the small scale of production.
Typically only a single meter for water in, and another for water out,
was seen for the whole site including vineyard, domestic and
processing. This made evaluation of water use difficult and addressing
this would be a first recommendation for the sector. Capital investment
is limited and this is considered one of the largest barriers, with return
on metering perceived to be small.
Meters are varied in style and method of measurement, and can range
significantly in cost. Mechanical meters can provide fairly a high level of
accuracy without the costs associated with electromagnetic or ultrasonic
13

Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable. Water use benchmarking in the

beverage industry. Trends and observations, 2010
14
UKVA online sustainable wine survey, 2011

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

systems, and are suitable for small wineries to help gain an

understanding of where on-site high water consumption is in place and
can be targeted for improvement.
As well as monitoring water use, creating a water management system
is critical. This should incorporate targets and continual improvement.
Water consumption and wastewater creation should be reviewed and
minimised, as well as treatment of wastewater, to maximise its value.

Image 3: Wine bottles

Clean in Place (CIP)

Manual washing of tanks was found to be in place even at some of the
larger wineries using a significant volume of water. However,
automated CIP is not necessarily suitable for all wineries, as the scale of
production can see little return on investment, even with water savings
realised. Some low cost CIP considerations are listed below:
optimising plant process design;
incorporating the internal recycling of water and chemicals;
carefully setting operating programmes, which coincide with the real
cleaning requirements of the process;
minimising detergent loss to drain; and
using water-efficient spray devices.
If production is very low scale, and investment in automated CIP is not
feasible, there are low cost water conservation practices which can be
carried out:

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

10

ensure all staff are made aware of water conservation policies

including ample signage at taps and hose points etc.;

minimise use of hoses for cleaning, opting for high pressure, low
volume spray systems;
remove product and gross soiling prior to cleaning; and
install automatic shut-off valves to reduce incidents of water
needlessly running unattended.

Waste water
Respondents to an online survey15 carried out on behalf of the United
Kingdom Vineyards Association (UKVA) suggests that many UK wineries
dispose of suitable wastewater to private soakaways, with minimal
organic recovery or treatment. This offers a relatively simple, low impact
disposal, but does not maximise value obtained from the effluent.
Volumes of wastewater within UK wineries are typically too small to
justify development of onsite treatment. Potential opportunities exist if
the wastewater can be combined with agricultural, or other organic
waste arisings, or if the winery partnered with organisations in the
vicinity to secure greater quantities of feedstock that are suitable for
treatment through AD.
Water efficiencies within the winery will increase the chemical oxygen
demand (COD) of the wastewater, as less dilution will occur, offering
greater value for recovery, but it is also worth considering separating off
high COD streams (such as those from removing residual marc etc).

15

UKVA online sustainable wine survey, 2011

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

11

Conclusions
There are several focal points for maximising resource efficiency within
the wine sector in the UK and these are listed below.
Improve monitoring. There was little in-depth understanding of

water and material consumption onsite at many sites visited, and

initial metering and improved record keeping is considered a
necessary first step to help assess areas of opportunity.
Develop an environmental management system, including
water use. Once consumption and efficiency in processing is well
monitored, realistic targets for improvement need to be set and
reviewed. All staff employed at the site should have the system
explained to them, and be encouraged to actively input ideas and
feedback.
Improved cleaning practices. Ensure staff are trained and aware
of conservation practices, including minimising use of hoses and
needless water use.
Effective wastewater management. Consider means of
optimising recovery of organic outputs, including separating effluent
to recover high COD streams.
Maximise value of organic by-product. Review value gained
from marc.
Product loss avoidance. Focus on reducing product loss through
improved filtration.
Optimise packaging. Adopting industry best standards in bottle
weights particularly by small producers could save 634 tonnes of
glass

Resource efficiency in UK wine production

12

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