That traditional glossy gift box of Johnnie Walker that you buy your dad each Christmas will soon be a thing of the past. Diageo announced on Thursday its plans to phase out the 183 million cardboard gift boxes used for its premium Scotch portfolio.
This includes: Johnnie Walker Black Label Blended Scotch Whisky, Johnnie Walker Red Label Blended Scotch Whisky, Buchanan’s Blended Scotch Whisky and Bell’s Original Blended Scotch Whisky.
Ewan Andrew, Chief Sustainability Officer, Diageo, said, “Waste caused by surplus packaging is placing an unnecessary burden on the planet. Paper and cardboard are highly sustainable forms of packaging, but it is time to review what is actually needed to package a product, as opposed to packaging it that way for historical reasons. We believe that the liquid in our premium Scotch products is the gift. They do not always need cardboard gift boxes to enhance this.”
Consumer response will be assessed by the business as the boxes are phased out and if successful, the programme will be expanded to more Diageo brands in 2023.
Diageo’s sustainable packaging strategy is developing packs for the future including:
- Packaging based on biomimicry, designs that will be modelled on biological entities and processes, such as mycelium. (Mycelium is part of the fungi kingdom and is the network of threads, called hyphae, from which mushrooms grow.)
- The use of carbon capture in the decorative design of bottles.
The removal is another step in Diageo's sustainability plan including its commitment to be sustainable by design and its objective to send zero-waste to landfill from its own operations and offices by 2030.
The phasing out of the boxes follows the launch of the Johnnie Walker paper-based bottle, the world’s first 100% PET-free paper-based Pulp bottle which is due to retail in 2023.
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