Wine producer Henschke has boosted its sustainability efforts by adopting several forward-thinking packaging initiatives.
Henschke has been a signatory to the APC since 2001, partnering with several action plans contributing to the shared goal of utilising more sustainable packaging.
Based in the Barossa’s Eden Valley wine region in South Australia, the company has participated in the SAWIA Mentor Program, reporting directly to the APC for the last 4 years. Last year, its efforts were recognised with a High Performer Award for Small to Medium Beverage Company.
Henschke quality and safety manager Tim Hackett says the company has always been striving for sustainability.
“The Henschke family recognises that their business relies on the earth to produce the grapes that they hand-craft their wines from,” he says.
“[Director] Prue Henschke is a longstanding environmental advocate who continually drives the company and its employees to work more sustainably on a day-to-day basis. We are currently going through the process of introducing Freshcare Environmental Management systems, which will help monitor and drive this focus into the future. Our icon wine, Hill of Grace, relies heavily on the ongoing health and vitality of vines first planted in 1860, so a focus on sustainability makes good business sense.”
Hackett says the Henschke focus has not just been on looking after its own vineyards, but engaging in projects that help renew and restore the environment for future generations. Organic and biodynamic principles are also embedded into the company’s management practices, and energy use is a key focus.
“Henschke has always focused on the recyclability of its packaging and the use of recycled content in order to minimise waste at all points,” he says.
“The company recycles all waste that can be recycled, and continues to source new recyclers who will take waste that larger contractors won’t. This can often involve taking waste direct to the recyclers to ensure it's processed, as very few of these businesses service our rural location.”
Products that aren't traditionally recycled, such as polystyrene foam, are sent to a manufacturer who re-uses them.
Another big step for Henschke has been light-weighting one style of bottle from its premium product range.
“It's often difficult to find areas to reduce materials,” says Hackett.
“Advances in bottle manufacturing, however, have allowed us to replace one of our bottles with a lighter weight product.”
The bottle was replaced with another model that was 124g lighter.
“With a run of about 1000 bottles per vintage, this has resulted in an overall saving of 124kg of glass per year,” he says.
“Henschke products are small-run, so the overall savings appear small, but as a percentage this is almost a 25 per cent reduction in weight.”
Other initiatives include a recent solar installation, and the re-use of rainwater.
Prue Henschke has been the main driver of environmental initiatives in the company, and since Hackett joined the company last year, he has helped to focus the sustainability initiatives on APC requirements, in addition to the traditional emphasis on vineyard management – and to improve reporting to the APC.
Recent changes to the company's action plan include an Annual Litter Collection Day – including a focus on roadsides, which started this year.
“We also hope to formalise more of our processes for packaging assessment and to purchase new packaging that will ensure opportunities are not missed in the future,” says Hackett.
“We've also started to talk to other wineries, the APC, and SAWIA, about formal cooperation and the sharing of ideas between wineries around the topic of sustainability. We'd like to form a recycling cooperative in the Barossa to enable wineries with smaller waste quantities to ensure they can still recycle as much waste as possible.”
