Wine is generally imagined to be in a classy glass bottle with a cork. It is known that glass bottles are long lasting. With a cork to seal it, they looked to be the best to keep wine for a long time. Wine bottles are still found that are over a thousand years old. Glass is not known to react in the fermentation process. Recently though, wine is being supplied in plastic bottles. The health hazards are a concern to many. It has been known that pressurized carbonated drinks do get contaminated in plastic containers and that prolonged usage of plastic bottles do cause health concerns related to contamination.
It is true that plastic is more re-usable and recyclable than glass, but unlike glass, plastic has a high chance of reacting with the wine in the fermentation process. It is believed that the older the wine, the better it is- but not in a plastic bottle definitely. There is a timeframe after which the plastic container starts to decompose. So, what happens to the contaminated plastic wine bottles then? Statistics show that customers in the United Kingdom buy more than a billion wine bottles per year. At that consumption rate, it is a sigh of relief that plastic wine bottles might not get contaminated.
Contaminated plastic wine bottles can be recycled to produce many things. The most common thing will be to make more plastic bottles, but there are a variety of plastic products that are made out of recycled contaminated plastic wine bottles. Some of them are, plastic packets, visiting cards, plastic containers and many such plastic products. A plastic wine bottle is one-eighth the weight of a normal glass wine bottle. This explains a lot as to why wine companies are trying to shift from glass to plastic. According to them though, with the reduction in the use of glass, carbon emission will go down.
Doctors though, seem to be against this move. According to them, it is okay if a fermented wine is repacked in a plastic container for immediate sale. The fermentation process should not take place in the plastic container. Poisoning may occur in the body, which can cause a lot of medical hazards. A sealed plastic bottle containing a pressured liquid should be consumed within 3 months of packing, after which the poisoning risks go higher. Contaminated plastic wine bottles will cause environmental harm too, if not disposed properly. Plastic needs to be disposed separately so that recycling can be done.
The move from glass to plastic is not a recent one, but for wine it is pretty new. Only time will prove what kind of effects it will cause to the health of consumers and environment as a whole. As for now, companies are on their trial stage. Wine in plastic containers generally refers to cheap wine. Companies are hoping this mentality will change. But are they looking at the chances of contamination? This is a question that can only be answered if there are cases proving it. Till then, plastic seems to rule the wine market as well.