Glass Bottles are Making a Comeback

It's a shame the beer industry doesn't incentivize the return of these empties. I think overall it could be cost saving to collect, wash, relabel and reuse. And the environmental angle would be huge.
It is cost prohibitive to reuse the glass soda/beer bottles.
 
I think the most wasteful aspect is that we spend all this money shipping around water.

Products like Gatorade, juices etc. Even soda to a certain extent. RTU cleaning products. Shipping plastic and water from one area to the other.

Understood but manufacturers don’t want to have too many bottling facilities.
 
We have $0.20 CAD for empty wine bottles and $0.10 for glass or metal beer containers. I remember my brother in Vancouver telling me about a homeless guy who patrolled my brother's area looking for returnable beer or wine bottles, my brother wondered why the guy was ignoring the 1.5L wine bottles? " well they take up too much room in my shopping cart, and pay no more than the 750ml bottles, so it's not efficient "
 
It is cost prohibitive to reuse the glass soda/beer bottles.
I think it could very easily be made cost efficient and even profitable, and certainly more long-term sustainable.

Bars no longer paying what must be hundreds of dollars for their rolloff dumpsters 90% full of glass. Put the empties in racks. Beer distributor drops off new beer, gives a credit for empties, returns them on his truck to the distributor who sends them thru machines that wash, sanitize, relabel, reuse.

I cannot see how it's less expensive to harvest raw materials, the energy to make the glass, and ship it to the bottler. And let's assume maybe it's slightly cheaper. It's failure to plan long term or be at all environmentally conscious.

Have you ever seen a dumpster full of glass? It's sad, and it occurs every week at every bar in America. Right to the landfill.
 
UNFORTUNATELY, it is cheaper to manufacture new glass than it is to recycle the old.
Which puts this into the same category as green hydrogen and biomass for electricity.
Not true. Our cullet (term for recycled glass) costs are roughly $100-120/ton, while raw materials easily top $160+/ton. We use nearly 5000 tons per day of cullet, mainly from Strategic Materials. Several of our plants have recycling stations run by SMI literally on the same property.

In addition, for every 10% of cullet that makes up the batch formula, there is a savings of 2-3% energy. When you’re using 4.4 million BTU per ton (nat gas, oxy fuel, and electricity) to melt glass, those savings add up when you’re running >50% cullet!
 
Not true. Our cullet (term for recycled glass) costs are roughly $100-120/ton, while raw materials easily top $160+/ton. We use nearly 5000 tons per day of cullet, mainly from Strategic Materials. Several of our plants have recycling stations run by SMI literally on the same property.
Plus, I truly believe companies should (or be required to) have a more sustainable business model. For too many centuries, companies grab their cash and dump their trash for future generations to deal with. Leaving mountains of pollution - sea, air, land, underground, freshwater lakes and rivers, etc. It sickens me.

I forget the term but it has to do with the back-end costs and burdens, which are not shared by the company but dumped on the public resources, often for disposal, cleanup, etc. Expenses, such as fines for not incorporating such costs, should be leveled against businesses that create massive amounts of trash. In this case, beer and soda bottles. I also have seen cash deposits on glass bottles in other states and nations, 5 cents or the equivalent. Could also be done by the pound. Goes a long way to encouraging recycling.

And it truly is in most businesses best interest and for the community and environment. Raw materials are growing more scarce, more expensive, and landfill space more scarce and expensive.
 
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My kids got us a SodaStream and we got a few different flavors of syrup. Works pretty well but you can't get the commercial flavors. It uses large CO2 cartridges that get mailed back and reused. Well water, syrup, and ice, very little waste.
You can buy the soda pop syrup )coke, etc. From your local distributor. It comes in a 5 gallon box so you'd better like it. I have done it for nearly 30 years
 
Plus, I truly believe companies should (or be required to) have a more sustainable business model. For too many centuries, companies grab their cash and dump their trash for future generations to deal with. Leaving mountains of pollution - sea, air, land, underground, freshwater lakes and rivers, etc. It sickens me.

I forget the term but it has to do with the back-end costs and burdens, which are not shared by the company but dumped on the public resources, often for disposal, cleanup, etc. Expenses, such as fines for not incorporating such costs, should be leveled against businesses that create massive amounts of trash. In this case, beer and soda bottles. I also have seen cash deposits on glass bottles in other states and nations, 5 cents or the equivalent. Could also be done by the pound. Goes a long way to encouraging recycling.

And it truly is in most businesses best interest and for the community and environment. Raw materials are growing more scarce, more expensive, and landfill space more scarce and expensive.
Sounds like a good litigation environment.
 
Plus, I truly believe companies should (or be required to) have a more sustainable business model. For too many centuries, companies grab their cash and dump their trash for future generations to deal with. Leaving mountains of pollution - sea, air, land, underground, freshwater lakes and rivers, etc. It sickens me.

I forget the term but it has to do with the back-end costs and burdens, which are not shared by the company but dumped on the public resources, often for disposal, cleanup, etc. Expenses, such as fines for not incorporating such costs, should be leveled against businesses that create massive amounts of trash. In this case, beer and soda bottles. I also have seen cash deposits on glass bottles in other states and nations, 5 cents or the equivalent. Could also be done by the pound. Goes a long way to encouraging recycling.

And it truly is in most businesses best interest and for the community and environment. Raw materials are growing more scarce, more expensive, and landfill space more scarce and expensive.
I believe it's called The Tragedy of the Commons.
 
Our water aisle at work (small grocery store) is plastic free. Doesn't bother regular customers, but shoppers that are on vacation aren't fans of it. Oddly enough, they pass 2 larger chains to get to our store
 
On a side note

Why is recycling bottles by dumping into a recycling bin is considered a good thing, while recycling bottles by taking them to the supermarket for the return is considered a person who is economically disadvantaged?
For the exact same reason people who make $50K a year finance $70K luxury cars for 84 months....
 
Glass is reusable and recyclabe, also recycling glass requires a lot of energy. Also, glass is heavy, which means it requires more energy to transport. A lot of transport energy can be saved with platic bottles. Plastic bottles can also be made to be reusable, though usually not as often. Plastic bottles can thus be better for the environment - depending on the length of the logistics chain.

Glass bottles have one advantage, though: They are chemically inert. No chemicals leaking from the bottle into the drink.
 
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