The beer bottle wash and return area (plastics recycling is in the forefront).
At the center the bottles are washed, refilled, capped, and sent back out, full of beer goodness. Each beer company has a different shape and colored bottle, so even if the label is missing, it’s still clear what company each bottle belongs to. This simple process has worked well in Germany, where great local beer is plentiful and drinking the local brew is the preferred choice.
Now keen to this sustainable practice, I wondered if this would work in the US – I live in Connecticut and tend to mostly buy beer from microbrews in New York and New England (especially Vermont!) so in my world, it would be easy to return bottles for cleaning and reuse. I do however acknowledge this might not work as well in other parts of the country, although it does seem that local beer is gaining popularity everywhere.
It’s strange that Anheuser-Busch did away with their returnable bottle program back in the early 90′s. They did this with Budweiser and Bud Light in standard 12oz pop top bottles. Bars and restaurants were the primary participants as you could only buy them by the case. The bottles went back into the cardboard case that was picked up by the delivery guy and the bar/restaurant received a credit. Even the cardboard cases were reused if not too damaged. I’m sure a combination of shipping costs/logistics and a general American lack of interest led to the discontinuation of this program
Sarah – while it’s great when we find solutions where we can safe both money _and_ ressources, many ecological problems can’t be solved that way: Making profit in a market economy relies heavily on externalizing (ecological) costs, e.g. leaving some of the costs for the rest of the population.
That’s why we often find ourselves in positions where we have to force the polluters into cooperation, as happened here in Germany, which means implementing regulations on a national level. The Green Dot faced some fierce opposition from the corporations in the packaging industries.
It would seem to me that uniquely shaped bottles would be more of a hindrance than a help. Why not standardize the shapes and colors so you wouldn\’t have to worry about who gets which bottles back? At the very least, that might make sense for small brewers, who rarely seem to have unusual bottles anyway.
I love this – the emphasis for our blog is green this month. We have a glass growler that we get refilled weekly at our local microbrewery – we save money so we win and the earth wins.
Sarah
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“Recycling, reducing, and composting are all important concepts when it comes to more sustainable packaging” This is true, but let me share for additional concept, Usability is also importance. In Thailand university has always awarded to student who can accommodate Green and Usability concept to create commercial packaging.
–Lifesbox–
As Reimer stated, we have a great system in Canada (that I guess I just assumed was also used in other countries). It just makes sense to re-use beer bottles. In Ontario when you buy a case of beer you pay a deposit on the bottles (10 cents each) and when you return them you get the money back. You get 10 cents for returning beer bottles, 5 cents for cans, 20 cents for whine and other alcohol and $50 for kegs. All returnable at the Beer Store for refunds.
Now if only we had those cool re-usable crates!
I really think the beer tastes better out of glass; I have heard good arguments for the plastic bottles since they are much lighter to ship than glass (so fewer fossil fuels), but they don’t keep the beer cold for very long (warm beer, ugh!). Also plastic IS made from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource, so there’s oil being used on the creation end, plus egregious recycling rates for plastic in the US, so I’ll stick with glass, since if it does end up in the ocean or woods, will eventually degrade, unlike plastic.
We in Ontario have a recycling program like this already in place. Most alcohol is sold is sold at either The Beer Store or at an LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) store and all liquor containers can be returned at any Beer Store location for a refund whether they be be bottles, cans, or kegs. I think its a great system!
The Green Dot idea is wonderful. Yes, once again, I feel like America is behind the curve compared to Europe when it comes to recycling…
There’s just something more luxurious about drinking from a glass bottle.
i love this idea. i really don’t understand why americans don’t use and recycle bottles the way europeans do.