Today (May 15) marks the start of the London Wine Fair, with sustainability at the core of an event that showcases all things positive in the burgeoning sector in the UK, with more than 10,000 wine industry professionals expected to descend on Olympia.

The live event runs until Wednesday (May 17) and a range of products will be on show from over 400 top exhibitors, with around 80 sessions held across the three-day event; the Discovery Zone’s Centre Stage will feature a variety of presentations aimed at helping establish a more sustainable wine industry.

There will be a particular focus on sustainable packaging with many retailers looking to identify more eco-friendly wine containers and coverings, with Waitrose recently announcing plans to start removing sleeves from some of its bottles.

“Sustainability is the central theme for this year’s show and we are delighted to be platforming so many discussions, tastings and launches with a green agenda,” said Hannah Tovey, Director of London Wine Fair. “The LWF23 Bottle Collection initiative takes this to another level, creating a practical solution for the circular economy. We are delighted to be the launchpad and look forward to seeing the resulting report and a roll out of the scheme to subsequent events around the world.”

A particular focus this year will be sustainable packaging, with a session planned on the link between glass bottles and carbon emissions, the Bottle Collection Initiative running throughout the event: it will categorise all waste bottles collected at the show according to bottle type, label and country in a move to gather data on bottle reuse. Around 30,000 bottles are expected to be used over the course of the fair, with a report to be published detailing the variety of bottle types and how many were reusable.