Oregon Launches First Statewide Refillable Bottle System in U.S.

Well it's definitely an interesting concept. One that has worked quite well in Germany and a few other countries. Can't say that I'm opposed. As long as they are properly cleaned and handled this seems rather logical. Let's see if it goes over well, maybe it will actually catch on. Crazier things have happened.

 

Used to buy cases of Genny "pounders", 16oz returnable bottles in a heavy, waxed cardboard case, that would get refilled. I love this idea!

 

An article about Straub Brewery in PA, which claims to be the last of the original breweries still offering refillable bottles, and also some info in general on the topic:
http://www.post-gazette.com/life/dr...ewing-Owens-Illinois-O-I/stories/201805070132

 

And it used to work well here in the US too. From that article I posted:

With the "localvore" movement, I can see this working again in places with an environmentally conscious population like Oregon.

 

The sanitary angle has always intrigued me. I believe there to be a big liability and a lot of breweries just not seeing value out of reusable containers.

Glass bottles can contain imperfections from time to time. Not knowing exactly what your buying or even using to fill isnt a great confidence booster for a 'quality' product.

Then again, I think I've been buying Mexican coca cola that have been re used and refilled and I'm still alive.

NM doesn't do glass deposits. We end up throwing away massive amounts of glass. But with cans, I'm happy to take a 30 gallon trash bag full to the recycler and get my $6. So if they can do something for glass around here, that'd be great.

 

The properly cleaned and handled is the big question. Sounds like a pain for businesses.

 

At Ayinger there is a station that scans reused bottles and rejects them if defective. This happens at line rate. Sierra Nevada does scans on new bottles, an do those go by at a blurry.

The delabeler and sanitizing machine is large, hot, and wet. Lots of energy and water used.

Which way is cheaper. Which is more green.

 

How can something that used to be common everywhere now be "first"?

 

"OBRC is talking with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality about quantifying exactly how much carbon the new program is saving, and they're working on bringing a bottle-washing facility to Portland. Until that facility is built — likely by 2020 — all the refillable bottles will be sent to a facility in Montana to be washed.

But even with that drive, Schoening said, the carbon savings of refillable bottles are big.

"Every time that bottle gets reused, you're cutting the carbon footprint of that bottle in half," Schoening said."

Why check with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality when they already know the answer?

 

It seems from reading the article is that key to the program is to standardize on the bottle, so the brewery doesn't have to get "its" bottles back. The size is 500ml, which is a shade larger than the 22oz bomber.

Any comment on the size? I have seen discussions on the 22 vs 16 oz and so forth, but not the 500 ml. (Unless I missed it which is entirely possible.) Locally, pFriem and Block 15 already bottle in that size. I hope the trend gets across the river to Washington.

 

A 500 ml bottle is 16.9 US oz.

There are different 500 ml bottles in Germany. One is shorter, so the breweries can't have the tall ones in the return stream.

 

Very interesting, and I hope it proves worthwhile.

Right Proper has attempted to have a refillable bottle deposit system with swing-top bottles, but apparently they’re phasing it out because it costs too much and is too difficult to clean, apparently using many chemicals.

This would need to be done on a practical scale with enough breweries participating to get a solid rotation in. Otherwise it’s just a waste.

 

Ain't no different than washing and sanitizing kegs. Just different scaled equipment.

 

It's a thing that used to be the norm, but was pushed aside in favour of the disposable society norms we now live in. Televisions used to be repairable. Planned obsolescence is bad.

 

Great idea!

 

In your research for your paper did you consider returnable bottles? Did you take a crack at quantifying the environmental impacts of trucking the bottles back to the place they would be processed, the environmental impacts of washing/sanitizing, etc.?

Cheers!

 

The Germans have been doing this for quite a while. I've sold Mahrs, Kulmbacher, Weltenburger, Aecht Schlenkerla, and others and a certain type of persnickety customer would occasionally complain about the re-used bottles. As one put it, "I want perfect retail presentation". Some of the bottles had worn white edges on extremities. I thought they looked cool...

 

Every brewery (well, except the draught-only ones) used to have a Meyer's Dumore bottle cleaner or equivalent.

(Note that this model - which can do up to 600 bottles a minute - has the "Deluxe Trim" - what brewer would want the standard model once they see this beauty? )

The idea that shipping bottles out of state to wash them and then trucking them back is somehow "green" is pretty perplexing.

It should also be noted that that comment about 12% of US bottled beer came in refillables in 1980 is the US average. Oregon (an early adopter of mandatory deposits) itself was over 50% - it helped that local and nearby breweries like Blitz-Weinhard, Olympia and Rainier still had significant market share in state. Other brewery-centric states also had higher percentages - WI, PA and MN all were around 25% refillables, and they outsold the "One Way/Throw-Away" bottles in all 3 states, as well.