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

I'm surprised they haven't done this before but it's probably cheaper these days to just crush them. We use to return soda bottles to (NY) Stewart's Shops back in the 80's.

 

Lol. A classic.

 

The reusable bottle system seems to work fine in Germany. It used to work here in the US. It undoubtedly could work again.

The last stat needed is how much money is saved, if any, on reusable bottles vs disposable. I would suspect/hope there is a tipping point where the economies of scale favor the reusable bottle. The trick is getting to that point.

My thought too. Truck diesel fuel is expensive, and not very green, but it sounds like it's a temporary solution until a washing station is set up in Portland.
"...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."

I wonder what is special about Montana that they still have a bottle washing station after everyone else, apart from Straub in PA, abandoned reusable bottles.

 

Perhaps the best use of a deposit is to encourage returning the cans/bottles for recycling.

 

Oregon has done that for years (along with a half dozen or more states). IIRC, the deposit is $0.10 per bottle.

 

Check out that other article I posted:
https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/montana-glass-bottle-recycling-craft-brewers-20150827

It's not that Bayern Brewery "still" has one, it's that their brewmaster is German and imported a custom built bottle washing machine:

 

I had to look it up. OR went to $0.10 on Jan. 1, 2018. Before that date only MI had a 10 cent deposit.

 

I have to add that soda fountains in the old days had premix soda in cornelius kegs dispensed from the fountain. The Stainless Steel kegs were replaced by concentrated syrup in a bag in a box system.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_keg

As a homebrewers I have more than a few of these kegs.

 

Yeah, good point. Also, came as a syrup in jugs or tins and then mixed with carbonated "soda water" at the fountain.

 

Yeah, I didn't look anything up... just going by getting charged deposits the last time I was in Oregon.

 

Interesting... I feel like there are many metro areas where if a few brewers cooperated reusable bottles could get going again. It would only take one or two moderate sized brewers to lead in a region, make the initial investment for other smaller brewers to commit. As proven by Bayern Brewery, which has a relatively meager production of 10,000 barrels per year, but was the catalyst of a local reusable bottle program. Now is a good time initiate these things too because recycling concerns are in the news lately (e.g. reports of China cutting recycling imports and glass recyclers shutting down), and sustainability is a growing concern among many consumers. Because I firmly believe no "sustainable" business move happens without a financial incentive, adopting reusable bottles might help brewers differentiate their product in an increasingly crowded market (i.e. sell more beer to the people who care about sustainability), in addition to any savings they might gain reusing instead of buying new bottles. We focus on beer here, but certainly other bottled beverages could participate in a bottle washing program too. The opportunity is there and working proofs of concept exist, it just needs a push to get started.

Part of me wonders too if this could be the initial rumblings of a trend that brings the craft beer can craze to an end. Not that I want or expect cans to ever go away, but maybe we'll see the trend peak. [ @woodychandler]...or this could just be flash in the CAN that fizzles out.

 

back in the mid 70s when I worked and drank in live music venues in a college town (Charlottesville VA) all the longnecks were returnable/reusable, and we had stacks of cardboard boxes that the delivery drivers picked up once a week when they made their deliveries. We got a credit on the invoice just like on-premise locations get a credit for empty keg shells today. I always wonder, because I got out of the business for some 35 years, when, why and how the shift to non-returnables happened. (I don't remember messing with returnables back then as a private customer from off-premise stores; just at the bars I worked, and at my fraternity house, where we studiously collected the empties from parties and our converted-to-longneck Pepsi bottle vending machine)

 

Well I agree it seems feasible, it also appears to have had more of an impact in Montana because there wasn't any existing recycling program for glass. I would think it would be harder to energize people behind the concept in a metro area that already has regular recycling.

Landfill -> Refillable is an easier sell than Recycling -> Refillable.

 

An unfortunate reality.

 

"The new bottles — which can be refilled up to 40 times"

Maybe I missed it but how can they tell the life cycle of the bottle, how do they now the number of times it has been used? Maybe there is a code or such just curious how they track the use and also what happens if its overused?

Seems like an interesting idea, I guess I would like to see the impact of trucking the glass to get washed and back. I also would like to see data on the water used to clean and sanitize and also the chemicals going into the drains after? What are they numbers on this and do they outweigh the savings?

In the end I see a lot of push for re-use but no one ever includes the actual final numbers. Maybe they are using more carbon to clean and truck these around than they would to crush them and make new? How much fuel is spent driving them back to get re-used or being picked up around town? Lots of factors go into this.

Anyway, cheers for people wanting to make things better, I am all for it, just want to ensure its actually a gain for good not a bust when you crunch the real numbers.

 

I would think they just re-use them until they don't pass inspection. From that Canadian article I posted:

Then after being filled:

 

It works in Germany because they never stopped using it and they don't can much beer. I doubt any of the craft breweries in NJ or most states have the ability to wash bottles.

 

Yeh, my bad. 22 is larger than 16.9.