Sustainable packaging: Scotch not quick enough

While the Scotch whisky industry is taking sustainability seriously, it is not moving fast enough when it comes to eco-friendly packaging, Nc’nean founder Annabel Thomas believes.

Highland distillery Nc’nean became the first net zero whisky distillery in the UK in July 2021. The producer also became a certified B Corporation earlier this month.

Speaking to The Spirits Business towards the end of last year, Thomas said she does believe the Scotch sector is taking its commitment to be more sustainable seriously.

However, she added: “I don’t think people are moving quickly enough on sustainable packaging. There are still way too many tubes out there that have metal bottoms and metal tops, which are not recyclable unless you’re going to ask the consumer to cut it apart, which obviously the consumer is not going to do. And I don’t think we can expect that of our consumers.

“That requires no capital investment, just a new designer and some new suppliers, and I think I would have liked to see the industry move a lot faster on that earlier.”

Thomas continued to add that the most urgent challenge facing the Scotch industry is decarbonisation during production.

“Finding the right solution for different distilleries, in different locations with different resources available to them is a challenge,” Thomas added.

“Water is going to become an increasing challenge for the whole industry. It is a very water-intensive industry, in particular on the cooling side.

“Packaging, as we’ve talked about, is another massive issue – and it’s not just a Scotch thing at all. We really need to get to a circular economy; recyclable packaging is great, but we should have been there 10 years ago.

“Where we need get to is bottle refills, for example, and one of the challenges with Scotch is that you’re only allowed to bottle single malts in Scotland, so we cannot offer a refill scheme in England, which is ridiculous.

“In my opinion, I think that’s something that the industry needs to tackle if it wants to be seen to really be on board with this kind of sustainability mission.”

For the full in-depth interview with Thomas, see the December 2021 edition of The Spirits Business magazine.