CUBA 4 February 2025 A year-long project in Cuba featuring Havana Club Original Añejo 3 Años rum delivered in ecoTOTE™ format to two Iberostar Group Hotels, is being expanded. The news comes as the team behind the project are celebrating after winning a major award last week at the PLD (Premium & Luxury Drinks) Innovation Awards in Paris. The award, in the ‘Sustainable & Refillable Innovation’ category, was presented in recognition of the activity, which started in January 2024 when Pernod Ricard and ecoSPIRITS launched a pilot-scale closed loop system for Havana Club rum in the brand’s home nation of Cuba. The project – now one of ecoSPIRITS’ most efficient closed loop systems globally – is being expanded to include additional Iberostar hotels in Cuba, as well as select local venues in Havana.

The first Havana Club Original Añejo 3 Años rum ecoTOTEs in Cuba were delivered to two luxury Iberstar hotels in Varadero from January 2024.

As part of the project, Havana Club activated a dedicated ecoPLANT™ at its home distillery in San José de las Lajas, Cuba. The leading Spanish hotel operator, Iberostar Group, took the role of launch partner in the Cuban market, taking the first ecoTOTE deliveries in early 2024 at two of its luxury hotels located in the popular beach destination of Varadero. The two hotels – each home to at least five restaurants, bars and nightclubs – were the first to take delivery of Havana Club Original Añejo 3 Años rum in ecoTOTE format. In the 12 months since the activity began, the initiative has avoided 16,000 kilograms of CO2e and eliminated 10,000 kilograms of packaging waste. Several local venues in Havana are set to join the initiative, along with two additional Iberostar Cuba hotels in Varadero.

Havana Club is the biggest Cuban rum brand and is sold in more than 125 countries.

In 1993, Pernod Ricard and The Cuba Ron S.A. Corporation created the joint venture ‘Havana Club International S.A.’, to bring Havana Club to consumers around the world. Havana Club is the biggest Cuban rum brand and one of the international leading rum brands, sold in more than 125 countries. The Havana Club Rum Distillery in San José de las Lajas was chosen as the host site for ecoPLANT No. 44 in 2024, joining existing ecoPLANTs in the Caribbean region in George Town, Cayman Islands and San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. The ecoPLANT 2.0S is operated by Havana Club distillery staff, supported and trained by ecoSPIRITS’ Circular Operations team.

The launch of the ecoSPIRITS technology in Cuba showcased the SmartPour 2.0S Havana Club Edition.

Pernod Ricard was the first global spirits company to pilot the ecoSPIRITS technology, starting in Singapore in March 2022. The pilot featured the launch of a portfolio of co-branded circular hardware to service leading venues across the region. The launch – which featured Havana Club rum, Absolut vodka and Beefeater Gin – marked the first of its kind for a global brand portfolio. The launch of ecoSPIRITS’ technology in Cuba in early 2024 showcased the SmartPour 2.0S Havana Club Edition and coincided with the announcement of a five-year global agreement between ecoSPIRITS and Pernod Ricard.

The project in Cuba won a PLD Innovation award in January 2025 in the Sustainable & Refillable Innovation category.

The ADF, PCD and PLD Innovation Awards have been promoting and celebrating the very best in packaging innovation since 2001. The winners of the 2025 awards were announced at a ceremony in Paris on 29th January, 2025, hosted by the awards’ prestigious jury members. The PLD (Premium & Luxury Drinks) Innovation Awards, launched in 2020, celebrate the global premium and luxury drinks market’s very best packaging innovations and launches from the past year. The “Havana Club x ecoSPIRITS’ ecoTOTE and SmartPour project” won a PLD Innovation award in the “Sustainable & Refillable Innovation” category.

Marie Benech, Communications, Public Affairs & CSR Director, Havana Club International

“We are honoured by the recent recognition at the PLD Innovation Awards, which celebrates the very best packaging innovations in the global premium drinks market. This initiative is aligned with Havana Club International’s CSR commitments to minimise waste across the Havana Club brand’s home nation and to safeguard its natural resources. We are delighted to be able to build on a very successful pilot phase by expanding this collaboration with ecoSPIRITS in Cuba.”

Solène Marie, Global Customer Success Manager, ecoSPIRITS

“We are proud of this extremely efficient closed loop project in Cuba, where ecoTOTEs are filled and dispatched directly from the distillery where Havana Club rum is produced. Despite only having been in operation for one year, the initiative has already eliminated thousands of kilograms of packaging waste, and we are delighted therefore that it has been recognised and awarded at the prestigious PLD Innovation Awards. We are looking forward to working closely with the Havana Club and Pernod Ricard teams in Cuba.”

For media inquiries or general information on ecoSPIRITS, you may contact Sonya Hook, Head of Communications on [email protected].


About Havana Club International S.A.

The Havana Club International S.A. joint venture was established in November 1993 by the Cuban company Ron S.A., responsible for rum production, and the French Pernod Ricard Group, with the goal of developing the Havana Club brand internationally via Pernod Ricard’s strong international distribution network. Since 1994, Havana Club has been a priority brand for Pernod Ricard, and today it is one of the Group’s top 13 key spirits brands Since 2003, Havana Club International S.A. has also been in charge of the domestic distribution of the Havana Club brands in Cuba, along with key international brands from the Pernod Ricard portfolio. In 2007, Havana Club International S.A. inaugurated its new rum distillery in San José de las Lajas to meet the increasing demand for aged rums. Havana Club is the number three international rum brand in the world and the worldwide leader in super premium and above rums. Havana Club achieved an 8% growth in value in FY24. Havana Club is exported to more than 125 countries around the world (excluding the US where Cuban products are banned due to the trade embargo). Havana Club’s main export markets in Europe are Germany, the UK, and France and in the Americas, Mexico, Canada, Chile, and Argentina.

For more information, please visit: https://havana-club.com/en/


About Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the No.2 worldwide producer of wines and spirits with consolidated sales amounting to E10,701 million in fiscal year FY22. The Group, which owns 17 of the Top 100 Spirits Brands, holds one of the most prestigious and comprehensive portfolios in the industry with over 240 premium brands distributed across more than 160 markets. Pernod Ricard’s portfolio includes Absolut Vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute, and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Malibu liqueur, Mumm and Perrier Jouet champagnes. The Group’s mission is to unlock the magic of human connections by bringing “Good Times from a Good Place”, in line with its Sustainability and Responsibility roadmap. Pernod Ricard’s decentralised organisation empowers is 19,480 employees to be on-the-ground ambassadors of its purposeful and inclusive culture of conviviality, bringing people together in meaningful, sustainable and responsible ways to create value over the long term. Executing its strategic plan, Transform & Accelerate, Pernod Ricard now relies on its ‘Conviviality Platform”, a new growth model based on data and artificial intelligence to meet the ever-changing demand of consumers. Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN Code: FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 and Eurostoxx 50 indices.

For more information, please visit: www.pernod-ricard.com


About Iberostar Cuba

Iberostar Cuba Hotels & Resorts is a leading hotel chain that promotes a responsible tourism model focused on caring for people and the environment. It has 18 4-star and 5-star hotels in the main tourist destinations on the island of Cuba. Iberostar Cuba Hotels & Resorts offers clients 3 hotels in the heart of Havana and 14 hotels on the shores of beaches in places such as Varadero, Cayo Cruz, Cayo Ensenachos, Cayo Guillermo and Holgiun. You can also immerse yourself in the history and tradition of the city of Trinidad.

For more information, please visit: www.iberostar.com


About ecoSPIRITS

ecoSPIRITS is a circular economy technology company that has developed the world’s first low carbon, low waste distribution technology for premium spirits and wine. Our patent-pending closed loop system nearly eliminates all packaging waste in the supply chain. By dramatically reducing packaging and transport, ecoSPIRITS provides a transformative carbon footprint reduction. Founded in Singapore in 2018, the ecoSPIRITS technology is now available in more than 27 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas. Nearly 3,000 leading bars, restaurants, hotels and retailers have adopted the technology, including Michelin-starred restaurants, World’s 50 Best and Asia’s 50 Best bars and iconic hotels. ecoSPIRITS is now rapidly building a global network of closed loop service, with coverage to grow further in 2025. Together with our brand partners, importers, distributors, wholesalers, venues, and retailers, we are already making a difference. Each year, ecoSPIRITS and our partners are eliminating hundreds of tons of single use glass waste, planting tens of thousands of trees, and inspiring others to change.

For more information, please visit: www.ecospirits.global