Garçon Wines CEO: Planet Earth is on fire, we must reinvent packaging for lowest carbon footprint

24 Jun 2019 --- Speaking at the 8th Global Packaged Summit in Amsterdam, Santiago Navarro, CEO and Co-Founder of Garçon Wines, urged the packaging industry to innovate towards a more environmentally-sustainable future by embracing the responsible use of recycled plastics. Garçon Wines is famed for its 100 percent rPET wine bottle range and, more recently, its ultra-compact 10-flat wine bottle case. In Part 1 of a wide-ranging interview with PackagingInsights, Navarro discusses the key takeaways of his Global Packaged Summit keynote speech, the long-term cost-effectiveness of rPET and issues related to rising anti-plastic sentiment. 

PackagingInsights: What are the key takeaways from your Global Packaged Summit keynote speech?

Navarro: I hope the audience at the 8th Global Packaged Summit in Amsterdam enjoyed my keynote speech and found it informational and inspirational. The key takeaways I hope they will keep from this are that, firstly, our home, planet Earth, is on fire. As packaging professionals, we must rise to the challenge of mitigating against further global warming and we must do this swiftly and decisively. Designing or reinventing packaging to have the lowest carbon footprint is an absolute necessity. Our flat wine bottles and associated transit packs and cases are a great example of how we have redesigned wine packaging to have a substantially lower carbon footprint.

Secondly, we are living in a world which is continually and rapidly changing. To accept or expect the status quo packaging from prior centuries to work in this century is misguided. The round, glass wine bottle is a perfect example of this. It is a 19th century vessel which, in my view, is no longer fit for purpose for the majority of wines in a 21st century world. The packaging industry must innovate and advance packaging for a sustainable 21st century. 

Thirdly, plastics are complex, diverse materials and when the right plastics are used responsibly, they are necessary materials which we should embrace. Unfortunately, too many companies and governments are guilty of having been irresponsible in the face of complexity and this has resulted in the awful mess we find ourselves in today. Two things are for sure: We will not be able to survive successfully as a species in the 21st century without some plastics being used responsibly, and hating plastics and running from them in fear will not sort out the mess we have. We must use plastics to clean up the mess we have created from plastics.Garçon Wines' 100 percent rPET wine bottles, in collaboration with the RPC Group.

My final takeaway is that there is always place for relevant and meaningful advancement or innovation in packaging. One of the most common questions I’ve had over the last 14 months since we have been sharing our eco, flat wine bottles is: “Why has nobody done this before?” To many, it seems so obvious to have flattened the wine bottle to offer unbeatable space savings. As packaging professionals, we must not accept base assumptions to always be correct and we should challenge every element of a product’s composition and design. The base assumption that a wine bottle must be round was one that we did not accept and changing this has provided the foundations for Garçon Wines.

PackagingInsights: Garçon Wines has proven with its 100 percent rPET bottle that a circular economy for plastics is achievable. However, companies often spotlight the expensiveness and lack of availability of rPET. How can these obstacles be overcome?

Navarro: Businesses which operate circular models for their resources will be the successful ones that power circular economies, and these economies will be the prosperous ones of the future. As you correctly identify, we produce our bottles from 100 percent post-consumer recycled PET plastic. This pre-existing plastic would otherwise risk ending up discarded as waste to landfill or litter in our environment. It is important to note that we started developing our wine bottles entirely from recyclate, way in advance of the spotlight being correctly shone onto plastics with Blue Planet II. We did this and took on the challenge to develop our bottle from recycled PET as we build our company on the founding principle that doing the right thing, not the easy or cheap thing, is the right thing to do. We are also very grateful to the team at RPC M&H Plastics who shared our vision of creating a 21st century, sustainable wine bottle, from recycled PET. Without them, this would not have been achieved.

With regards to your question about the price and availability of rPET, my view is that costs are relative. In the short-term and when looking granularly at the costs of a single unit of product, then recycled PET is more expensive than virgin PET. However, the overall costs – the mid- to long-term costs – of using virgin PET are much greater. This will be seen very clearly in the years to come by all those across the plastics value chain as they are partially made to bear the costs of cleaning up the mess that has been created. Consumers and governments will hold companies to account for having produced and sold tons of virgin plastic without controlling it post-use. My view is that using recycled PET in a circular business model will prove to be the less costly option when the hidden costs of using virgin material are justifiably added to the final bill.

Garçon Wines' 10 Flat Bottle Case, in collaboration with DS SmithAs to the availability, this is an issue and one that we are fortunate to be able to resolve by having the possibility to access the material through the RPC Group. As we are a start-up, the possibility to utilize the purchasing power of giants, the RPC Group, has been of vital importance. I am aware that there is more capacity being created and I am confident that both industry and governments will massively increase the availability of rPET. For the time being, companies and countries may need to look to their neighbors for help. There is nothing wrong with short-term help if there are plans afoot to have easier access to the material. I know there are many organizations looking into this at advanced stages.

PackagingInsights: Is there a danger – particularly with the rising tide of anti-plastic sentiment – that consumer attention is being diverted from the eco-benefits of plastics and the larger issue of climate change?

Navarro: The present anti-plastic sentiment is fervourous and in my view foolish. Hating a complex material with so many important benefits to a healthier planet and successful society because too many people have acted abhorrently and dumped loads of it into landfill or our precious environment is nonsensical. The right plastics used responsibly are necessary and should be embraced. The wrong plastics should be phased out in a clean and safe way. In my view, those who are informed among us and choose to declare themselves plastic-free are acting irresponsibly. This carries the real risk of creating an even bigger mess than we have now. We need to be plastic-smart, not plastic-free.

We must accept the sad reality of the pollution that has been created and we should all, as companies, executives, citizens – whatever hat we wear – act decisively and contribute to the clean-up. One great way of doing this is to give the pre-existing material a value which will fund and fuel its collection. We will continue doing what we do, using pre-existing PET, knowing that it is the right thing to be doing. We will also work on circularity and ensure we help the wine industry slash its carbon emissions. We are starting with wine, but we will build our company further in time to innovate in other drinks.

By Joshua Poole 

In Part 2 of this interview, Navarro talks more about sustainability, in particular, policymaking and the need for distinctive names for polymers that will help consumers differentiate between plastic types. He also discusses the untapped opportunities of customization in e-commerce, the international expansion of Garçon Wines and its development of a new flat Burgundy bottle.