Frugalpac introduces lease purchase scheme to enable firms to purchase their own Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine for manufacture of the paper Frugal Bottle for wines, spirits and olive oils

Frugalpac Product Director JP Grogan and Commercial Manager Paula Kendall with the Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine.

British sustainable packaging firm Frugalpac is now offering a lease purchase scheme to help drinks brands and co-packers buy their own paper bottle manufacturing machine.

Frugalpac has introduced the scheme through a third-party financer to make it easier for firms to purchase their own Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine and start decarbonising their bottles.

The Frugal Bottle is the world’s first and only commercially available paper bottle for wines, spirits and olive oils and is made from 94% recycled cardboard. It has a carbon footprint six times lower than a glass bottle and is five times lighter too.

The Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine can make up to 2.5 million paper bottles a year, allowing drinks brands and co-packers to make the low carbon bottles in the heart of a filling facility instead of importing heavy glass bottles.

It will also allow machine buyers to source component materials from local suppliers, reducing carbon miles even further.

Last year Frugalpac sold its first Frugal Bottle Assembly Machine to Canada’s KinsBrae Packaging and Frugalpac has just sold another machine to California’s Monterey Wine Company.

The company, which was recently named SME of the Year at the UK Green Business Awards, also already has another 100 enquiries from companies looking to buy their own machine.

Frugalpac CEO Malcolm Waugh said: “There’s a global demand to make the move from glass to paper bottles but we know the cost of buying a machine outright can be a financial barrier to some.

“Our global mission is to help the drinks industry decarbonise.

“That’s why we’ve decided to make it as easy as possible for drinks brands and co-packers to make the switch.

“Our offer will be a 3-to-5 year lease purchase. The third-party finance offer will be subject to certain criteria being met by the prospective customer but stable and successful companies should have no problem meeting it.

“Like our outright sales, machines bought on this finance option will still be covered by machine warranties and support will continue to be provided by Frugalpac.

It’s three years since the Frugal Bottle launched in June 2020, making it the world’s first commercially available paper bottle for wines, spirits, and olive oils. Frugalpac was invited along with other UK businesses to display their goods at a British event at Bordeaux’s Place de la Bourse to mark the monarch’s visit.

Since launching in June 2020 with a red wine from Italian winery Cantina Goccia, the Frugal Bottle is now used by more than 35 drinks brands, in 128 SKUs in 25 countries around the world, including major wine producing nations like France, Spain, Italy, the US, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Frugalpac has produced and sold more than 1.8 million paper bottles, saving over 750 tonnes of CO2.

Frugalpac recently announced that leading sustainable drinks producer and co-packer Broadland Drinks is to become the UK’s largest filler of Frugal Bottles – the low carbon paper wine and spirits bottle – in a milestone partnership with Journey’s End and British sustainable packaging company Frugalpac.

It will mean mass volume Frugal Bottle filling to allow UK retailers and on-trade to stock even more paper bottles to help decarbonise the drinks industry supply chain.