Why I gave up on Box Wine

A few years ago I posted an article about how Box wine rules! in which I explained I had found box wine to be great for table wine because of its ability to keep from deteriorating the way wine does in an open bottle. Since then I’ve actually stopped buying box wine and it’s been on my mind for a long time to post about it to set the record straight.

While what I said about the advantage of box wine remains true I’ve stopped buying it for two reasons: 1) impact on the environment, 2) possible impact on my health.

Environment Impact

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you ought to be aware that plastics are a major problem for our planet, our oceans and marine life in particular. I’m not even going to bother talking about this in any details here but it is clear that we all ought to make an effort to reduce the use of plastics. Unfortunately box wine uses a plastic bag to store the wine, plus a valve to make it easy to pour, that will end up adding to the amount of plastic waste.
It’s always difficult to fully assess the environment impact of anything we do and I was thinking that the production of glass which is very energy intensive might not be any better for the environment because of its contribution to global warming but I have come to the conclusion that it’s still better than adding to the ever increasing global amount of plastic waste. Sadly, even though those plastic bags carry a logo that may make you believe they are recycled they typically aren’t! At least glass is if you dispose it properly. If only we could start reusing glass containers rather than merely recycling them the gain would be that much greater.

Health Issue

Then there is the possible health issue related to the wine being stored in a plastic bag. Plastics, especially the soft ones, aren’t stable. They leak chemicals into what they contain. If you have ever tried drinking from a plastic bottle of water left in the heat you’ve literally got a taste of that. Some plastics are better than others and you’ll find claim that no negative health impact has ever been linked to the use of those plastics used for food containment but the reverse is true as well: it has not been proven not to have any negative impact. As far as I’m concerned, call me chicken if you want but I’d rather not take the chance given that an alternative exists.

Conclusion

Sorry box wine, in the end, you lose. I’d rather waste a bit of wine if it comes to that and not take a chance with my health than add to the terrible impact on the environment and risk unknown consequences on my body.

More on Plastics

Since I read “Plastic Purge” from Mike Sanclements a few years ago I for one avoid using plastic containers for drinks and food as much as possible. And if I ever do I never put them in the microwave oven (like when you want to quickly reheat that leftover you stored in a plastic container). It’s actually not that hard to store your food in a glass container instead or at least transfer it to a plate (non-plastic obviously) before putting it into the oven. I highly recommend reading this book. It’s easy to read and very informative.