Lagunitas will be last to can

Here's a novel idea - recycle the aluminum. Boom, problem solved. Lagunitas can get off of their tenuously founded high horse.

 

Slate did an article comparing the environmental impact of cans vs bottles that I found illuminating.

http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...lantern/2008/03/wear_green_drink_greenly.html

Here's an article about the BPA used in aluminum can liners:

http://www.fledglingbrewer.com/rants/liner-notes-is-bpa-in-beer-cans-a-cause-for-concern/

It's my opinion that bottles are a slightly superior format at this point in time, especially if you buy local. But that doesn't mean I won't snag some Oskar Blues every once in a while...

 

It works both ways. Plus, I think Lagunitas' argument is not so much with the recycling, or manufacturing of the Al cans, but with the mining and refining of the materials.

 

Frost lining makes it taste just like the Rockies.

 

Right, if we recycled 100% of the material, then there would be no need to mine and refine the material.

I referred to it as "tenuous" because it's a lot more complicated equation than just "mining material A is bad so use material B."

 

I agree it is more complicated. I believe it is very complicated that one should not be declared "greener" than the other, at least not until more studies have been conducted. I think a lot of technology fields get dictated by one side yelling ours is greener, and then building momentum off of that. Look at the paper bag movement. Stores brag about being "green" because they use paper instead of plastic, when in fact plastic is way better environmentally. At this point you are speaking to deaf ears on the subject though because it has been said so often and so loud that plastic is evil.

Honestly the best method would be if a group of breweries got together and started doing a re-use bottle program (would work well for Lost Abbey and RR with their corked bottles). Or if even some of the breweries started doing this for their local market, such as Stone, GF or New Belgium (since they each have unique bottles, it would be easy to accept or reject bottles). hmmm... this might be a great business idea. Start a local company that takes in bottles and gives them back to the local breweries.

 

their larger point about companies claiming to be "greener" is good, and i respect their decision not to can.

if glass really does have less negative environmental impact than cans (it looks like this is the case, but i haven't personally researched it), i'd prefer cans stopped being produced. however, i won't boycott craft in cans, which clearly represents a small minority of aluminum usage. i boycott as a part of a larger movement to get things done, or because someone has done something i am so against that i won't let them have even a cent of mine. neither is the case with craft beer sometimes coming in cans.

edit: p.s. if you're mad at lagunitas for their high horse, this is a good opportunity for you to do some soul searching. why are you mad? what is so upsetting about their position?

 

Wouldn't this be made un-green simply by needing to drive to the brewery to accomplish this versus putting the bottles in a recycling bin? I think there is a lot more to it than that even.

 

I don't think it would be "un-green". If you mean inefficient, then yes that would lead to inefficiencies. But no system is 100% efficient. The term "green" is kind of arbitrary, and can only really mean "more environmentally friendly than other options". You might have more people driving around, but with it being a local program transit should be kept minimal, and ideally you could have a couple of drop off locations, and people could drop off when along their route.

The main aspects of this would be the savings in energy and waste between recycling and reusing. Would this model work? I don't know, there would need to be some effort to look into it. I know breweries across the globe use to do this, but it has fallen to the way side. I am not 100% sure why that is but I believe it has to do with the effort in getting your bottles back verse the low $ cost of just getting new bottles.

 

This is like saying "National debt? Print more money. Boom, problem solved".

 

FTFY

 

Explain.

The crux of the argument in the quoted article was that there are some serious environmental effects from producing aluminum from raw materials. As far as I know, this is not an issue with recycled aluminum. So if a company can source aluminum from exclusively recycled materials (not sure if this is possible, but it seems feasible), then the argument falls apart.

 

I never said I was mad, just that saying something so assuredly, while dumbing down the discourse, is an unhealthy way of going about things. It's very commonplace with almost every political discussion takes place.

I would like to see a much more thorough analysis of cans vs. bottles before I can make a decision. I appreciate Lagunitas bringing up something I was unfamiliar with, but I don't know if they should go about saying "We will be the LAST brewer to can" when there is a lot more to the issue than they have presented.

 

if you're not mad, no soul searching necessary. if you are mad (or offended), soul searching necessary. this is all i'm saying; not directed at any particular person.

 

Sure, if you could make all cans out of 100% recycled material your argument would hold water. But you can't, so it doesn't. You lose a significant portion of aluminum during the recycling process. So your "solution" while admirable in theory doesn't fix the underlying problem.

 

I'm not a big fan of Lagunitas so they Can or Cannot do whatever they want. It won't affect me.

 

Why can't you?

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_recycling

"As recycling does not damage the metal's structure, aluminium can be recycled indefinitely and still be used to produce any product for which new aluminium could have been used.[4]"

I haven't read that new aluminum products have to contain some level of virgin materials. Correct me if I'm misinformed.

 

Aluminum recycling is more efficient. Aluminum cans are cheaper. Aluminum isn't transparent. Aluminum is recycled more often than glass. Aluminum weighs less. Aluminum is easier to store and transport.

 

Yes, because there are so many negative aspects associated with recycling aluminum as compared to the negative aspects of hyper-inflation. They're obviously exactly the same thing.