Returnable bottles vs. recycling

Bottles are not uniform in dimensions, even the 12 oz long neck ones. They would have to be sorted before the rinse sanitize cycle. Any odd ones that made it through would cause problems on the line. Standard bottles would help that issue, but good luck with that. Cases of Sierra Nevada sorted and returned from all over the nation? Right!

Have you ever talked to a brewery about the amount of kegs that they don't get back each year? If they don't get all of the kegs back, one would think only a fraction of the bottles would come back.

 

You really are new here. JK knows his stuff.

Breweries are in the business to make a profit. There is no brewery that is more into sustainability than Sierra Nevada, and what do they do with the bottles?

 

I've spoken with numerous breweries using refillable practices who can attest that by sourcing local bottles they are able to break even or in some cases make a profit as a result of a reuse program. Breweries are already storing bottles, they just aren't reusable. They are made for one time use. If people could wrap their heads around the idea that our species is not going to survive without instituting more sustainable practices; people might start to return their bottles for reuse.
There are breweries in the PNW that are reporting a 40-60% recovery rate for reusable bottles. That is well above the 20-30% of recyclable bottles that actually make it into the recycling system(most of which is in China by the way). We have to educate people and stop being sooooooooo greedy for once in our existence.

 

There are a number of breweries considered more sustainable that Sierra Nevada. The mere idea of sourcing your product nationally or internationally is an inherently unsustainable practice. The most sustainable breweries can be found on a local level. Ones that don't source outside their city/state/or maybe region.

 

GET OUT OF HERE, HIPPIE! Way to join today to revive an old, hardly beer-related post. I bet you don't even drink beer, bro!

 

Not on energy usage/production in the brewrery, water usage statistics, waste recycling, CO2 recovery, generating fuel for brewery vehicles, grain delivery by rail, etc. Yeah they ship product all over the country. Edit - that is one big reason the brewery was built in NC, lower shipping, closer to east coast markets.

 

Try to think of your incentive as a world where pollution is lower, so you can breath better and energy costs less because we aren't using as much and is, therefore, more abuntant.

 

I drink plenty of beer. I also work in the brewing industry as a sustainability consultant. You can call me a "hippie" all you want, cause to be honest, the biggest insult in your comment was the use of the word "bro"

 

In my neighborhood there are people that go around and pick out all deposit bottles out of your recycling for you! It's almost starting to seem like it's organized...

 

I believe they're called hobos

 

When energy costs less as in fuel, use goes up, as in big SUVs becoming popular as happened in the late 80s to about 2000. Jevons paradox.

 

The idea of a de-localized economy, which is what capitalism calls for in this day and age, is not "sustainable". That is a term that many people misuse. maybe sierra nevada is more "ecologically friendly" but not "sustainable" by any means. the idea of sustainability takes into account a relationship with the natural environment. We have to allow the earth to replenish. You say trains are sustainable, but they aren't(at least the way we use them). They have less negative environmental impact than, say, a semi truck (per weight transported). Although they still require energy, energy that comes from natural gas, hydroelectricity, etc. And those practices, the way we use them in our society are not "sustainable"

 

Definitely a potential problem. But if we get to the point where energy consumption is reduced, that would show a cultural shift in the way we think. Therefore we would be more conscious of our footprint which we are leaving

 

There is also a growing coalition of people trying to change our "throw away" culture by being part of the solution. You obviously aren't one of them

 

I remember buying returnables, they were almost always cheaper than throw-aways (even before factoring in the deposit). I think the reason it will be a looong time, if ever, that they make a come back is that the machinery used to process them is long gone. To reimplement them now would be a huge capital investment.

I do believe they save "resources" in the long run and that they were killed off by "lazy" consumer culture. Like I said above, I bought them because they were cheaper. The only other people buying them in the 1980's were old men, stuck in their ways.

 

Something to think about. Its not necessarily laziness. A book I'm reading called "Switch" points out three surprises related to change. 1) "What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem" 2) "What looks like laziness is often exhaustion" 3) "What looks like resistance is often lack of clarity" The second being most relevant to your comment. People aren't necessarily lazy. But self-control is an exhaustible resource just as any other muscle function is exhaustible. --- Just some food for thought

 

I love people who comment without bothering to read what OP posted. If you had followed the link in the first post you would have learned all about Double Mountain's re-usable bottles.

 

Wiki link

 

You are the one who mentioned statistics - and I then asked you for some.

My "rant" is not my opinion (I personally liked deposit/refillable bottles) just the history of the demise of the refillable in the US brewing industry as told by the industry.

If you've got statistics that contradict what US brewers have maintained for the past 30 years or so, we'd all like to hear them. I know I would. I imagine notably "green" folks like Ken Grossman at Sierra Nevada and Kim Jordan at New Belgium have done the research and have decided that the refillable bottle isn't practical or cost-effective in the US.

 

They're to start canning at their new place in Monson. Not sure when.