Johnnie Walker: becoming sustainable by design

05 Aug 2021 ESGSustainability

What do we mean when we talk about Diageo's business-wide ambition to become sustainable by design? For us, it means using innovation to responsibly reinvent the way we do things, including by reducing our packaging, increasing its recycled content and the resources it uses, and ultimately eliminating all waste.

Johnnie Walker is showing the way forward through its 'Next Steps' initiative, which includes the goal of reducing its footprint ‘from grain to glass’ – and puts sustainability at the heart of its design decisions.

A paper-based bottle which will change spirits packaging forever

As just one example of this approach, Johnnie Walker has launched the world’s first ever paper-based bottle – made from sustainably sourced wood pulp, it’s the brand’s first recyclable paper-based spirits bottle and the result of a new Diageo partnership that has created Pulpex Limited, a world-leading sustainable packaging technology company.

At the same time, the brand has continued to make strides in other packaging innovations, too – increasing the use of recycled glass in Johnnie Walker Red Label and Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles to 43% and having one of the lightest glass whisky bottles in the world in Red Label.

It's an approach that's in keeping with Johnnie Walker's 200-year history of innovation – and that's central to Diageo's Spirit of Progress ambition to help create a more inclusive and sustainable world.