One of the most common sounds in my life is the clink-clink of glass against glass - either tasting glass against tasting glass as it was this past week in Paarl where I was judging in the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, or the rather deeper chimes of wine bottle against wine bottle when I move wines into our cellar, line them up for Platter judging (conflict of interest alert) or carry empties to the pavement so they can be collected by the recycling company in Somerset West.

I don't much like waste - so Stitch does play a valuable role in our kitchen hoovering up left-overs - and so was shocked by the figures contained in the drinks business's annual 'Green Issue'. Here are just a few pertaining to glass and carbon footprints:

• 97% of the UK wine market is sold in glass bottles, which weigh (empty) 500000 tonnes.
• The lightest wine bottle now being produced is 300g, versus the heaviest in the UK at 1kg.
• Constellation saved more than 3000 tonnes of glass when it simply decreased the glass bottle weight of its Stowells and Echo Falls ranges by 12%.
• Sparkling wine producers including the Champenoise could save 170000 tonnes of glass annually by switching from 900g bottles to the more than adequate 700g versions.
• Grapes, compared to other agricultural produce, yield relatively little carbon output per hectare: 400 - 800kg/ha versus corn's 30 - 40 tonnes/ha.
• However, a large proportion of grapes' carbon contribution is attributable to the large amount of water that is used relative to output; in some cases as much as 550000l/tonne.
• The electricity and natural gas used in wineries can contribute over 100g of carbon dioxide per bottle of wine.
• The carbon dioxide produced during fermentation represents less than 3% of the overall emissions from the production and delivery of one bottle of wine.
• Constellation cut carbon dioxide production by over 2000 tonnes when it simply decreased the glass bottle weight of its Stowells and Echo Falls ranges by 12%.
• 48000 tonnes of wine - or £470-million - is poured down the drains in the UK each year.

Closer to home, the list of wineries paying attention to 'green' issues is long, not just from the point of view of operating in an eco-friendly manner (and therefore conforming with programmes like Integrated Production of Wine and the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative) but also ensuring that all other aspects of a wine business are sustainable, from energy usage to designing and implementing business plans that ensure the sustainability of the organisation.

I'll continue to do my bit - by finishing what's in my glass and bottle (or putting a cork in it and sharing it with someone who will) and recycling my cling-cling.