Garçon Wines addresses wine industry’s climate problem with Packamama spin-off

02 Mar 2022 --- Garçon Wines is launching a packaging spin-off called Packamama, empowering brands to adopt its eco-flat wine bottles and bottling methods in the battle against climate change. Customers can eventually produce the climate-friendly, 100% recycled PET bottles at scale through their own production facilities. 

Santiago Navarro, Packamama’s CEO and founder, tells PackagingInsights that the spin-off reinforces the company’s vision to be a driving force in accelerating a low carbon future for the drinks industry by providing climate tech packaging designed for a circular economy, starting with wine. However, Packamama also creates opportunities for weight- and energy-saving packaging for other liquids.

“Wine will remain our immediate focus as it is what we are best known for, and the opportunity is massive at more than 25 billion bottles annually. Additionally, we will soon aim to collaborate with other businesses such as within spirits or olive oil to develop and commercialize other registered designs within our large IP portfolio,” explains Navarro.

“We are also keen to make the most of emerging material and recycling technologies such as PEF or enzymatic recycling to offer our customers a broad range of packaging solutions that protect Mother Earth. Our guiding vision is to contribute to creating a low carbon future in the drinks industry, and we believe in unlocking packaging’s full potential to achieve this.”

Packamama is inspired in name by the goddess Pachamama. The business offers superior shape and best-in-class material choices to help slash greenhouse gas emissions and address the wine industry’s carbon footprint hotspot of round glass bottles.Inspired in name by the goddess Pachamama, Packamama offers packaging to protect Mother Earth.

Customization potential
Packamama also unleashes customization opportunities like decorative bottle elements and different bottle sizes, shapes or materials. The spin-off benefits from a granted intellectual property portfolio of 284 registered designs for flat bottles spanning 35 countries.

“These bottle designs are shape specific but size or volume and material agnostic, opening up a wealth of opportunity for Packamama’s customers to trial better bottles,” says Navarro. 

“Packamama is already working on a smaller bottle format we believe will compete against the can. It will offer the visual style and pouring experience of a bottle and the packaging efficiencies of our flat-pack USP while being easily resealable. We have strong interest in this format from customers looking for a smaller serving size for travel and events.”

Environmental communication
Meanwhile, Navarro says it is essential to convey the environmental benefits of eco-flat bottles compared to round glass bottles on-pack, helping consumers understand why they are seeing a different wine packaging format on the shelf and encouraging them to make a more responsible purchasing decision.

“We go to great lengths to help our customers make design choices that do not impact the likelihood of the bottle being recovered and recycled, essentially encouraging the principle of ‘recyclable by design’ to help contribute to the circular models we so desperately need,” continues Navarro.

Garçon Wines has built knowledge of recycling infrastructures in key markets by engaging with local organizations like RECOUP and CalRecycle, and label manufacturers like UPM Raflatac.Garçon Wines’ eco-flat wine bottles are flat to save space and made from recycled PET to save weight and energy.

Getting customers started
Packamama will start by offering its business customers the supply of bottles, caps and labels, and bottling capabilities. The spin-off says it wants to make it easier for its customers to trial its climate-friendly format and reduce the initial risk.

“Most companies still use cost-benefit analysis to determine which new product development they will choose to activate. Under this scenario, by lowering the upfront cost for our customers, we can increase the chance of activation,” explains Navarro.

“Extremely few, if any, would invest six- or seven-digit amounts in fixed machinery costs to test a new format, and it is understandable why they would not. With our arrangement, there is just a variable cost for the number of units produced, product which will ship and get sold, recovering this variable cost.”

Once individual business customers better understand how the eco-flat bottles work in their business and the level of returns they provide, Packamama says it is open to customers running their own bottling operations.

“One of the many benefits of PET bottles over glass ones is that most production facilities could install a PET bottle production machine, but very few would install a glass furnace,” adds Navarro.

Meanwhile, Packamama will continue to partner with packaging giants like Berry Global, Visy and DS Smith to deliver its packaging.Garçon Wines has received much commercial traction and media interest, including a special mention in Time’s Best Inventions 2021.

Packaging rethink needed
The Packamama launch coincides with Mardi Gras, which marks the events of Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany.

“Beyond Carnaval and pancakes, this day is also known as a day of giving thanks to the planet,” says Navarro. “Over the last 60-100 years, humans have over-consumed, over-polluted, and damaged the natural world, causing an ecological meltdown, mass biodiversity loss, and a serious existential threat for the human race as outlined in IPCC’s latest report.”

“When looking at areas to innovate to help safeguard the planet, rethinking packaging from base assumptions can uncover its full potential as a force for good in contributing to circular models and helping slash carbon footprint.”

“Our new name and accompanying visual identity are designed to be uplifting, memorable and purposefully distinct from other packaging businesses, solidifying our commitment to creating packaging that protects Mother Earth. Indigenous people have inspired us, as their tradition of nature conservation we must now all follow,” he concludes.

Packamama will continue to build the traction of eco-flat wine bottles with multiple, well-respected brands set to launch in the format in Europe, Australia and the US in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Garçon Wines will continue to operate as a separate wine brand owner and wholesaler business.

By Joshua Poole