The Spanish Wine Federation recently announced that the proposal by the Ministry of the Environment that wine in restaurants should be sold in refillable multi-use bottles would damage the sector. In a statement, the Federation said the measure is being introduced in the National Waste Plan coming into effect in the next few months & which sets a target of 50% reuse for wine bottles in the restaurant/hostelry sector by 2011. According to the Federation, the move would do serious organisational & economic harm to companies & impose an unfair limitation on their packaging options as well as discriminating against wine as compared to other products which enjoy alternative packaging options. The Federation underlined the wine sector primarily uses glass containers to market its products, not only for storage of the product but also for their role in production of wine. In addition, it emphasised that in the quality wine segment, glass is more than a mere container; ageing in the bottle is required if the wine is to fulfil the terms of traditional production methods mentioned on the label.
