Ardagh to supply Oregon winery with recycled-content bottles

Indianapolis-based Ardagh Glass Packaging – North America, a business unit of Luxembourg-based Ardagh Group, says it has collaborated with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates so the Oregon-based winery can transition to Ardagh ECO Series glass packaging options.

Ardagh says several factors make its ECO Series a sustainable product. This includes that, on average, Ardagh – North America uses 39 percent recycled glass, or cullet, in the production of its glass bottles and jars. According to Ardagh Vice President of Marketing and Communications Gina L Behrman, “There is not a specific percentage requirement for the ECO Series bottles.”

The company says its ECO Series product line “provides all the sustainability advantages of glass – a neutral and inert material that is infinitely recyclable – while maintaining high quality, enhancing customer appeal and lessening the overall impact on the environment.”

John T Shaddox, chief commercial officer for Ardagh – North America, says, “With a passion for sustainable practices and protecting the environment, Ardagh Glass Packaging values partnering with customers like Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Utilizing our ECO Series bottles, which meet the highest standards in technical and aesthetic quality for glass packaging, we are pleased to help Ste. Michelle achieve its sustainability goals.”

Ste. Michelle describes itself as the largest winery in the Pacific Northwest and says it has long valued sustainability and protecting the environment.

“Making sustainable packaging choices, like selecting the ECO Series glass bottles for our portfolio of wines, is a highly impactful change we can make toward reducing our overall carbon emissions,” says Juan Muñoz-Oca, Ste. Michelle’s Chief Winemaker, who also leads the organization’s sustainability practice. “Not only does it make good business sense, but perhaps most importantly, it’s the right thing to do.”

Throughout 2022, Ardagh Glass Packaging says it will celebrate the United Nations International Year of Glass (IYOG), commemorating what it calls the essential role of glass packaging in a sustainable society.

Ardagh says that for more than 125 years it has been providing “endlessly recyclable” glass bottles in the United States. It currently has 14 U.S. production facilities and offers wine bottles in a variety of colors, sizes, styles and finishes.