Vinhos Dona Berta – Cardboard Standardization

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Since the very first Dona Berta Wine arrived at a restaurant – and it is necessary to go back to the year 2005 – each reference (Whites and Reds) had its own box (with its name and respective colour).

This happened until the year 2016 – when balanced sheets started to be made that included indicators like:

• The number of “leftovers” that were never used;
• The potential of waste reduction (in this case paper/cardboard);
• The unit costs of not acquiring just one reference (quantity discount);
• The potential for reusing boxes.

After analyzing the numbers the decision was (easily) made

PROJECT STARTING DATE: 2006 harvest season| ENDING DATE: on going

SDG (SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL)

Climate Action

REASON WHY/MOTIVATION/BRACKGROUND

It is common for the end customer (who buys a bottle at a wine store or consumes the wine in a restaurant) to, actually, never see the boxes in which wine is transported and stored.

However, for the bottles to reach the client´s table, they travel stored in boxes, usually only seen by the supply department of the restaurant, hotel or wine shop.

By 2015, each Dona Berta Wines wine placed on the market (six different references) had a specific box that could not be used for another type of wine or for one from the following year’s harvest, resulting in an extremely high level of waste.

We considered this an unsustainable situation and, in 2016, we decided to take measures to resolve it.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION 

Since the very first Dona Berta Wine that arrived at a restaurant – and it is necessary to go back to the year 2005 – each reference (whites and reds) had its own box (with its name and respective colour).

This question – the individuality of each wine – should also be reflected in the box of the wine – so that each wine would have a singular colour (this was a very important point made by our founder).

This happened until the year 2016 – when balanced sheets started to be made that included indicators like:

• The number of “leftovers” that were never used;
• The potential of waste reduction (in this case paper/cardboard);
• The unit costs of not acquiring just one reference (quantity discount);
• The potential for reusing boxes.

Also associated with all these analyzes was a survey – made to a big number of our clients (direct and indirect) – which confirmed the initial idea we had – our own customers were unable to associate a “colour” (the colour of the box) to a wine.

After analyzing the numbers, along with the answers, the decision was (easily) made!

BENEFITS/ACHIEVMENTS

Since 2016, we have created a universal box, compatible with all references and that can also be used for a future harvests.

In 2020, four years after the implementation of the new boxes, our financial savings are almost four times the cost, resulting in a saving of nearly 300 boxes/year.

LESSONS LEARNED

It’s something easy – but usually easy tasks are the hardest to implement and have the highest returns.

NEXT STEPS

This measure is implemented and, at this moment, it seems almost a non-issue what happened until 2016.

Only the Strategic Reserve of the house, where we keep our oldest Vintages, remind us that the past was more “colorful” than the present – however the colorfulness that we don´t have is a good one not to have!

POTENTIAL FOR REPLICATION

We believe every producer of wine (but not only wine) could do the same that we did.

The survey carried out by us only confirmed our initial idea as producers – that the customer does not value the box but only the final product.

Often the customer himself doesn’t even know the transport solution we use – because he often buys our wines either in restaurants or in cellars (buying at the unit).

So we believe that we have made the best choice for ourselves and for the environment – and we believe that all producers can (and should) follow our footsteps towards a better future (for them and for everybody else).