Rock Rose has signed a deal with the Royal Mail which will make it the first gin to offer fully recyclable 70cl refill pouches.   Under the agreement, Rock Rose’s gin pouches can be returned to its distillery via the Royal Mail’s standard Freepost service.   Once returned to Rock Rose’s Dunnet Bay distillery in Caithness, the pouches will be recycled by Terracycle.   The new packaging solution has been developed by Dunnet Bay in partnership with innovations consultancy PA Consulting. After 12 months research, the final product is a four-layer laminate pouch with a plastic spout closure.   The pouch, which is also delivered by post, weighs 65 grams, as opposed to the 700-gram weight of the Rock Rose ceramic bottle, thereby offering significant reductions in energy use during shipping.   The cost-savings generated by the new shipping and packaging process are being passed on to consumers with a 70cl pouch of gin retailing for £4 less than its bottled equivalent.   Martin Murray, co-founder of Dunnet Bay Distillers, said: “We take sustainability incredibly seriously and have been working hard on our first-to-market recyclable pouches for over a year now.   “We are absolutely thrilled to be the first brand to have secured the support of Royal Mail for a postal recycling scheme, which we believe will be embraced by our customers.”   Ryan McGinley, product design expert at PA Consulting, said: “We are delighted to have helped Dunnet Bay Distillers create an environmentally friendly solution that delivers real value to its distillery and customers.   “It took ingenuity to develop a flexible pack that could be sent direct to consumers, which not only eradicates the need to use a single-use bottle but also reduces their costs.’’   Dunnet Bay plans to extend the scheme across both the on- and off-trade and to apply it to the other spirits in its portfolio, which include Old Tom Gin and Holy Grass Vodka.   It is also offering in-store refills of Rock Rose to distillery shop customers.