What can we get besides a bottle of wine?

Two years ago, Saverio Lo Leggio, Milazzo winery’s owner, agreed to put his vintage to an unusual test: he allowed a team of researchers from the University of Palermo to figure out the cost to the global environment of producing a single bottle of red wine, and the result is surprising.

The production of a bottle of Terre della Baronia created more than a pound of waste and put 16 grams of sulfur dioxide into the air. Producing the 2004 vintage of 100,000 bottles generated 22,000 pounds of plastic waste, 11,000 pounds of paper and oceans of wastewater.

Traditionally, larger industries and their factories are main targets of environmental regulations, but according to the European Environment Agency, smaller businesses like Milazzo generate about 60 percent of the world’s commercial waste and cause more than 50 percent of environmental damage.

The European Union is adapting the techniques used by Cellura and his team to study the global environmental cost of many other small companies in Europe. And hopefully, small companies can be aware of the situation and lessen their environmental impact.

At Milazzo Winery, the study’s findings have already reduced pollution. “We discovered we were throwing away a huge amount of plastic, mostly little things.” Mr. Lo Leggio said. “We used to pay to send it to landfill. Now, we sort it and a recycling consortium takes it away. We’re recovering a lot more raw material.”

From economic point of view, this is so called externalities, which means wine makers also generate something that we do not expect. To make a balance, I think besides economic control, the more important thing is that we should try to eliminate the pollution. That should be the most effective way to solve such environmental problems.