How to Create Eco-Friendly Packaging for Spirits Transcript
Juan Carlos (00:10)
Hello, good morning, and thank you for joining us today at BCB. I am delighted to start the conference with a project called MATCH, focused on breaking the rules in the soft drinks category—specifically in tonic water. Historically, this category has been driven by mainstream conventions. We use design to directly solve the category’s underlying problems.
We want to move from the square to the cube—focusing on design with purpose and genuine eco-design. There is a lot of noise in the industry regarding terms like premium, eco, fair trade, zero-kilometer, and B-Corp, which often leads to consumer confusion or greenwashing. When a brand has true purpose, it focuses on “story-doing” rather than just storytelling. In a challenger brand category, you must be willing to make sacrifices to reset the paradigm.
Traditional eco-design operates in a linear model: extract, produce, consume, and generate waste. We apply a circular model: produce, consume, reuse, and recycle. Rather than launching a product simply because a category is booming, our core strategy is identifying consumer pain points and using design as the primary tool to solve them.
Juan Carlos (04:51)
First, our bottles are made from 100% post-consumer recycled glass derived from recycled wine bottles and car windshields. Because of this, the glass carries a natural greenish tint. Depending on the batch composition, some bottles are greener while others are clearer; we explicitly accept this tolerance in color variation to remain truly 100% post-consumer glass.
Additionally, we accept cosmetic defects—such as minor air bubbles—that do not compromise structural integrity. By accepting these visual variations, we reduce production waste by another 25% because those bottles do not get thrown away or sent back to the furnace.
Using post-consumer recycled glass allows us to manufacture a significantly lighter bottle, which reduces our overall carbon footprint. Furthermore, our cube-shaped design eliminates the traditional long bottle neck seen in standard soft drinks, meaning we do not waste space transporting air during shipping.
Juan Carlos (08:00)
Our structural design achieves a zero-percent breakage rate. In modern e-commerce, soft drinks are frequently shipped alongside premium spirits. If a tonic bottle breaks in transit, it damages the entire package. The cube is the most structurally solid packaging shape possible, preventing breakage during transportation.
Visually, MATCH features a distinctive square shape, perforated label, and pastel color palette that makes it instantly recognizable. We also designed a color-coded system across our four SKUs that is simple for consumers to decode:
- Yellow: Indian Tonic (referencing the standard yellow tonic code)
- Blue: Mediterranean Tonic
- Pink/Purple: Floral Tonic
- Orange/Red: Spicy Tonic
Our bottles feature a modular, stackable design. In a retail environment or bar display, MATCH bottles stack directly on top of each other, saving up to 30% of shelf space. In a supermarket setting, a retailer can fit two four-packs of MATCH in the exact footprint required for a single four-pack from a competitor.
Juan Carlos (11:06)
The MATCH four-pack packaging is engineered with rounded corners to prevent scuffing or damage during retail handling. It also features top protective flaps (“wings”) that lock the bottles in place during transport, making the packaging fully optimized for e-commerce logistics.
In terms of liquid formulation, MATCH is crafted with functional superfoods:
- Indian Tonic: Infused with Lemongrass
- Spicy Tonic: Infused with Red Chili
- Mediterranean Tonic: Infused with Sage
- Floral Tonic: Infused with Acai Berries
We maintain very low sugar levels without using stevia, achieving bold flavor profiles while addressing consumer demand for low-sugar, wellness-focused beverages.
Juan Carlos (13:03)
With just four SKUs, MATCH covers a wide range of consumption occasions without requiring an excessively large product line:
- Spicy: Pairs with agave spirits (like spicy Palomas)
- Indian: Pairs with classic Gin & Tonics
- Floral: Works well in low-ABV spritzes
- Mediterranean: Complements premium white and aged spirits
Beyond being a mixer, MATCH functions as a sophisticated adult soft drink for consumers seeking non-alcoholic options that are more engaging than standard sodas.
Juan Carlos (14:07)
To make circularity actionable rather than theoretical, we developed the MATCH Circularity Collection. All our labels use “glue killer” technology, allowing consumers to easily peel off the label at home.
We are introducing custom fitments designed for our square bottles so consumers can upcycle them into salt and pepper shakers, oil and vinegar cruets with speed pourers, or home reed diffusers. At live industry events, we even feature bottle-cutting stations where used MATCH bottles are repurposed into custom drinking glasses.
To wrap up the elevator pitch: MATCH offers stackable, light-weight packaging made from 100% post-consumer recycled glass, formulated with superfoods and low sugar, and fully optimized for modern e-commerce and retail logistics. MATCH is officially launching right now, and I thank you for your time!
Why Mexico’s Sotol Industry is Building for the Future Transcript
Juan Pablo Carvajal (00:10)
Hola, welcome everyone! Thank you for the opportunity to talk about the sotol industry. For us, the question for this panel is: “What is sustainability for the sotol industry?” The idea is to discuss best practices derived from regulation and tradition, as well as the opportunity to build a sustainable industry for the future.
First, we must define what sotol is. Sotol is a plant native to the Chihuahuan Desert in northern Mexico. It is also an artisanal spirit made for generations. Picture a territory twice the size of Germany—over 500,000 square kilometers of land with only 9 million people. Sotol is wild-harvested across these grasslands and mountains; we go out into nature where it grows naturally, extract it under federal government permits, and process it artisanally. That means cooking the plants in pit ovens, open-fermenting in pine vats, and distilling in copper stills—a process unique to the Chihuahuan Desert.
Juan Pablo Carvajal (02:00)
While sotol is a young industry learning from established categories, regulation provides our initial framework for sustainability. Under Mexican federal regulations, producers are only permitted to harvest up to 40% of mature wild sotol plants in a given area over a five-year period. For example, if a land assessment identifies 100 tons of wild sotol, we may harvest only 40 tons total—spread out as one-fifth per year over five years. After that five-year harvest cycle, that land must be left untouched for 10 years to replenish. Applying these rules properly ensures our wild inventory regenerates so we can harvest sustainably long-term.
Tradition also guides sustainable harvesting. When gathering sotol, jimadores leave the rootstock intact in the ground along with a fraction of the green leaves. Given favorable desert conditions, the plant regrows, maturing in 5 to 10 years instead of taking another 15 to 25 years from seed.
Juan Pablo Carvajal (05:16)
Logistically, transporting raw plants eight hours over dirt roads out of the desert to a central facility requires massive fuel consumption. Because sotol yields roughly one liter of spirit per 20 kilograms of plant material, a 30-ton semi-truck delivers only about 1,500 liters of sotol. Traditionally, producers moved the distillery to the plants rather than the plants to the distillery. We want to modernize this tradition by deploying mobile trailer distilleries directly to harvesting camps across Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango—reducing transport emissions and processing raw material on-site.
Innovations like cultivated sotol farms are also emerging. While growing sotol takes 7 to 10 years and its full flavor profile when farmed is still being researched, sotol crops require only a fraction of the water needed for traditional agricultural crops. In an arid desert dependent on deep underground aquifers, transitioning land to water-efficient native crops like sotol protects vital water reserves.
Juan Pablo Carvajal (08:33)
The sotol industry faces significant sourcing and infrastructural challenges. Chihuahua is effectively a “desert island”—located far from major industrial hubs, requiring five hours of driving just to exit the state. Packaging supplies like bottles, labels, and closures must be shipped in from outside. To make the category sustainable, we must unite as producers to build local supply networks for recycled glass and packaging materials.
Distillation byproducts also require active management:
- Organic Fibers: Spent plant fibers can be processed into compost, biofuel, or mixed with clay to make adobe bricks—a traditional desert building material used to construct our facilities.
- Vinasses: The liquid waste from distillation must be properly neutralized and treated before land application to prevent soil contamination.
- Energy Use: We burn central plant stalks (chaka) and spent fibers for heat, while taking advantage of Chihuahua’s 250+ annual days of intense sunshine by integrating solar power into 24-hour distillery operations.
Juan Pablo Carvajal (12:17)
Building a sustainable industry for the future requires long-term commitment. Our priority is organizing key stakeholders across the category. Crafting exceptional sotol is simple compared to organizing people, but establishing clear industry standards that go beyond minimum legal requirements is essential.
We must also invest in research alongside universities to optimize cultivation and distillation techniques, while leveraging technology to reduce backbreaking manual labor for field workers without compromising the artisanal character of the spirit.
Juan Pablo Carvajal (15:01)
Finally, transparent communication across the industry ensures that best practices are shared and implemented widely. Organizing a cohesive category across a territory twice the size of Germany is a massive undertaking, but whether it takes 30 years or longer, we are committed to building an industry that preserves Chihuahuan heritage for generations to come. Thank you for listening, and please follow our journey!
How Giffard Built a Sustainable Facility Transcript
Emilie and Bruno Giffard (00:09)
Emilie Giffard: Hello everyone. I’m Emilie Giffard, part of the Giffard family business, currently serving as Brand Strategy Director for innovative projects. Today, we will explain and share tips on building sustainable production facilities as an example of what we implement at Giffard. I am joined by my father, Bruno Giffard, who will provide deeper details as a core member of the team that developed these facilities.
Giffard is a family business created in 1885 by my great-grandfather, Émile, who was a pharmacist. Émile experimented with various products, particularly mint for its digestive virtues, and created a delicious drink now known as Menthe-Pastille. He began selling it to customers at a hotel near his pharmacy. Following immediate success, he sold his pharmacy to become a distiller. Five generations later, we are still here today presenting our story.
We have grown significantly over five generations—we produce a full range of 60 liqueur flavors and 90 syrup flavors. However, we are still based in Angers where it all started. Tradition is vital to us, and our constant challenge is keeping the craft of our business while scaling. In every project, we keep this in mind: how to maintain the small-batch craftsmanship behind the success of our products while growing. We have two production sites in Angers: our original liqueur distillery built by my grandfather in 1972, and since 2017, a second site for syrups and logistics.
Emilie and Bruno Giffard (03:14)
Emilie Giffard: Sustainability is part of the DNA of our family and company values—placing people, the environment, and art at the heart of everything we do. Environmental care informs every leadership decision. Because we have a long-term vision to be here in another 100 years, we must ensure our environment and stakeholders are cared for. Continuous improvement drives us, and we constantly look for innovative technologies to reduce our footprint.
Our sustainability strategy rests on four key pillars:
- Economic Sustainability: Remaining 100% independent. Financial strength allows us to invest in long-term sustainable technologies, which are often more expensive upfront.
- Environmental Protection: Pursuing carbon reduction plans through ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition) in line with the Paris Agreement, alongside water reduction targets.
- Sustainable Agriculture: Sourcing raw materials responsibly from nature. We work closely with farmers to improve fruit and plant cultivation and prioritize local sourcing—over 65% of our fruits and plants come directly from France.
- People: Supporting the development and well-being of our employees, partners, and community stakeholders.
Emilie and Bruno Giffard (07:30)
Bruno Giffard: Good morning. Having run the company for 30 years, I can tell you that when my father built our 1972 facility, he didn’t face the same challenges we face today regarding land, water, and climate constraints. Because our liqueurs, spirits, and syrups rely on plants and fruits, our business depends entirely on healthy ecosystems.
Before building new infrastructure, the most important step is optimizing existing facilities—it makes no sense to develop new land if you can maximize current assets. In our 1972 facility, we optimized vertical space with raised vats and multi-level organization. Designing our syrup facility took over three years from concept to construction to ensure maximum efficiency. Furthermore, we designed the building to last for the next 100 years.
Although we export to 80 countries, we choose to remain a French local producer, sourcing 100% French sugar beets and local fruit. We also value the spirit of art in our design—a heritage from my grandfather’s early advertising work. We hired a renowned local architect from Angers to build around our identity: a central garden growing fruits, plants, and vegetables used in our production (and picked by employees for personal use), surrounded by a facility featuring vibrant syrup-inspired colors.
Emilie and Bruno Giffard (12:35)
Bruno Giffard: Environmental preservation is integrated directly into the facility design:
-
Solar Energy: Solar panels were designed two years after opening to match our exact energy consumption needs.
-
Water Recycling: Systems capture and reuse water from equipment and floor washing, addressing regional water scarcity.
-
Biodiversity & Waste: We preserved mature trees on-site, built surrounding gardens to support local wildlife, and route plant and fruit waste into biogas and agricultural fertilizer.
When building a new facility, common sense is your best guide. We prioritized three core elements: people, products, and environment. For our workforce, we spent a year gathering employee feedback to design ergonomic workstations, eliminating unnecessary walking or heavy lifting. We used color-coded environments—brighter tones in cleanrooms and softer tones in standard areas—along with natural light and spacious break areas to promote employee well-being.
Emilie and Bruno Giffard (16:31)
Bruno Giffard: For our products, scaling up shouldn’t mean losing sight of quality. Even with larger vats, we installed visible glass piping so workers can monitor flow and taste the products at every stage of production.
Common sense means taking time, involving employees, engaging the local community, and opening our facility to social life. Industry is fundamentally a place where people work and live together, so we invite local residents to visit every year and take time to celebrate our collective milestones.
Emilie and Bruno Giffard (18:02)
Emilie Giffard: As Bruno mentioned, because we have fully optimized our current distillery, we are now launching a project to build a new distillery right next to our syrup factory.
We are co-creating this facility with our workforce, asking operators what tools and environments they need to make their work easier. We are also partnering with engineering firms to implement low-impact technologies.
Our guiding motto throughout this expansion is keeping the human craft within a larger facility—combining the expertise of our workers, small-batch quality control, and tasting protocols to operate as “industrial craftsmen.” Thank you very much!
Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain Strategy for Spirits Transcript
Lorenzo Fornari (00:10)
Hello everyone, I’m Lorenzo Fornari, the founder and CEO of Solaro Capri Gin.
We started off with the whole idea of Solaro with the intention to save Italy. By “saving Italy,” I mean preserving the artisanal culture that is disappearing very quickly. Just a few weeks ago, the latest statistics revealed that Italy lost 325,000 artisans. Our country’s heritage, knowledge, know-how, and way of being are slipping away. A few years ago, I was inspired to create something to help remedy that. So here we are: a ceramic bottle with an innovative design.
Initially, people told me it couldn’t be done and that it was too expensive. But after launching, we sold out our first hundreds of bottles in two weeks. From then on, we have helped local artisans produce thousands of bottles. We have preserved local know-how to the point where everything we use is entirely domestic—we could cut Italy off from the rest of the world and still keep making our gin. The clay and ceramic workmanship are Italian, and all botanicals are handpicked locally from Capri—specifically Monte Solaro, where we get our name—as well as Naples, Sorrento, and Amalfi. It is distilled locally in Salerno, which legend claims as the actual birthplace of gin a thousand years ago.
Lorenzo Fornari (02:16)
What we wanted to do was be sustainable not just environmentally, but also culturally. That is the entire point of creating this with local artisans, giving back, and using Italian know-how.
For example, ceramic can be upcycled and last forever. Look at how many ceramic artifacts remain from 2,000 years ago during ancient Roman times compared to glass—it literally lasts indefinitely. Design-wise, we made the reverse side blank so if you don’t want the brand name visible, you can use it around the house as a beautiful souvenir or piece of decor. At home, I use mine as an olive oil diffuser.
Additionally, the bottles are stackable from the bottom to conserve space. It offers something new that turns heads and gets people looking at something different. Having everything sourced locally minimizes our environmental footprint.
Lorenzo Fornari (03:53)
We only launched a few years ago, but we’ve already earned significant recognition—including Double Gold Medals at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, along with Design and Innovation Awards. We’ve been featured by The New York Times and served by top bartenders in Capri.
From my own experience, there is an expression that “like brings like,” or “the best brings out the best.” We are trying to do the absolute best we can, and over the years, we have attracted like-minded people who want to be part of this mission because they see we are doing things the right way.
Lorenzo Fornari (04:41)
Because Solaro is a luxury product, the large bottle retails for around €120 to €130, while the smaller bottle retails for around €90. It’s not just about selling an expensive product and making high margins for ourselves; higher price points benefit the entire value chain. The local artisans we partner with receive the maximum possible return. That keeps them incentivized, sparks local word-of-mouth, and continuously attracts talent—that is exactly what “like brings like” means in practice.
To maintain that alignment, any producer knows you need constant communication and media collaboration. Nowadays, everyone wants to be tagged and highlighted across channels.
Lorenzo Fornari (05:40)
When building this roadmap, my primary lesson was to practice what you preach. You have to genuinely believe in what you are doing. If you don’t believe in it and you are doing it purely as a marketing ploy because you think the market demands it, forget about it—consumers can sniff that out immediately.
Incentivizing the pricing chain by maintaining a luxury positioning means you can afford to attract the best partners in the industry. Beyond that, supplier transparency is essential. You have to verify not just that your supply chain is solar-powered or sustainable, but that it is ethically operated all the way down.
Lorenzo Fornari (06:27)
Complying with sustainability and legal standards involves working with established frameworks and associations. For instance, we are currently in discussions with Positive Luxury, which requires rigorous KYC (“Know Your Client”) compliance across all suppliers and works with major luxury brands. B Corp certification is another clear path, and sustainability consultants can guide you through legal compliance. Depending on your corporate structure, you can even embed formal sustainability obligations directly into your company’s constitution or Articles of Association.
Lorenzo Fornari (07:05)
That was my contribution sharing my experience creating an authentic, ethical, and sustainable luxury product from Capri—trying to save Italy with my gin, one sip at a time. Thank you very much!
More Resources on Sustainability
Increase Your Brand’s Productivity By Reducing its Waste
How to Drive the Industry Toward Sustainability
How to Build a Sustainable Workforce