The familiar clink of glass bottles in your liquor store shopping cart could be replaced by the soft burr of paper against paper. Taking their lead from the wine industry’s successful rebrand of paper packaging — from cheap house blends to chic upscale brands like Juliet and Boxt — spirits producers around the world are breaking with tradition as recycled paper bottles enter the market.
Although glass is 100% recyclable, just 33% of glass containers are recycled annually in the United States, according to the Glass Recycling Foundation’s 2023 report. This leaves a staggering 9.2 million tons of glass in the landfill. With 61 million spirits bottles shipped domestically in the first three quarters of 2022, this is an industry-wide issue whose impact is becoming increasingly significant to producers and consumers looking for sustainable packaging solutions.
There are three new letters you might want to consider when looking at the latest high-performance luxury machines from Mercedes-AMG and BMW M: BMI. With electrification all the rage among Germany’s leading speed merchants, the transition towards battery-assisted drivetrains has seen curb weights skyrocket.
The all-new, plug-in hybrid BMW M5 is no exception. In addition to offering more power than ever before, it’s also packing a 25% weight gain that it didn’t exactly pick up at the gym. All those extra pounds would seemingly add up to an experience behind the wheel that’s markedly different from what M division fans are looking for.
