Reusable wine bottles now launched nationwide at Ekoplaza

Rotterdam, October 2026 — From this month, the Universal Reusable Wine Bottle is available in every Ekoplaza store in the Netherlands. The new system lets different wine brands share the same bottle: once returned, it gets washed, refilled and sold again. Weijnschenk is the first brand to offer its wine in the shared bottle in supermarkets nationwide.

After eighteen months of development, wine distributor Walraven Sax, packaging platform PAKT Packaging and impact organisation Enviu are taking a major step towards reuse at scale with this launch. Partners across the wine value chain helped develop and test the bottle, with support from the Province of South Holland.

Wine bottles are typically recycled after a single use. Recycling recovers the glass, but melting it down and making a new bottle requires energy. Reuse keeps the bottle intact, allowing it to be washed and filled again.

Reusable wine bottles aren't new in the Netherlands. Walraven Sax already bottles its wine in a universal reusable bottle, available in bars and restaurants across the country. Weijnschenk has sold its wine in its own reusable bottle at Odin for over a year, and Retour de France also uses its own reusable bottle.

What's new is a single shared bottle standard on supermarket shelves: one bottle for multiple wine brands, instead of a separate bottle for each brand.

That standard makes it easier for more brands to join. Producers no longer need to set up their own bottle and return system: participating brands share the same infrastructure. At Ekoplaza, the wine bottle is part of Wisselwaar, just like the other reusable jars and bottles in store. Stores collect all standard bottles in a single stream, without sorting them by brand.

Over the past eighteen months, Walraven Sax, PAKT Packaging and Enviu developed the Universal Reusable Wine Bottle and tested the system extensively with bars, restaurants and retailers across the Netherlands. Venues such as TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht and Muziekgebouw Eindhoven already work with reusable wine bottles.

Building on its earlier work in the reuse sector, Enviu brought the coalition together around a shared vision, put reusable wine bottles on the agenda, designed the governance model and coordinated the project, Walraven Sax brought its wine industry knowledge, operational expertise and distribution network, and PAKT Packaging led the set-up of the reuse system itself, from the design of the bottle and crate to the return logistics and the washing and inspection process.

Think of it as a shared bottle pool. You buy wine from one brand at Ekoplaza, enjoy it and return the empty bottle. After professional washing and inspection, the bottle becomes available for refilling by a participating producer. The system is designed so that the same bottle can serve different wine brands: the wine and label can change, while the bottle stays in circulation. Because participating brands combine their volumes, purchase of bottles, collection, washing and distribution become increasingly efficient. Every brand that joins makes the business case more attractive for everyone in the chain.

With every Ekoplaza store on board, the Universal Wine Bottle is now part of everyday grocery shopping across the country. It shows what partners across the chain can achieve together, and it is only the beginning.

The goal: make reuse the norm in the wine sector. Every brand and retailer that joins makes the system bigger, more efficient and more familiar, until returning your wine bottle is as normal as returning a beer bottle.

Enviu, Walraven Sax and PAKT Packaging invite wine producers, distributors and retailers to join the next phase: put more wines into the shared bottle, bring it to more shelves and help keep every bottle in circulation. Find out how to take part at www.herbruikbarewijnfles.nl.