July 30, 2008 - The Winetasting Network (WTN), a California-based wine distributor, has swapped 80% of its packaging from styrofoam to renewable fiberboard.

The company teamed up with its vendors to develop renewable, more easily recyclable packaging materials such as cardboard and wood pulp.

“We tasked our packaging vendors to come back to us with solutions and they met our vision for environmentally correct packaging,” says Chris Edwards, general manager of WTN. "We are basically the only wine fulfillment and retail company that is measuring sustainability as it relates to packaging."

WTN has implemented a "Green Report Card" to measure and track progress on key environmental initiatives from greener packaging to materials recycling to emissions reductions from shipping.

Based on its first round of Report Card results, the company recycled more than 700 tons of cardboard and fiberboard over the past year. It has also converted about 25% of its shipments from air freight to second-day ground shipping - a move that cuts emissions per shipment by as much as 90%, according to Edwards.