Returnable bottles vs. recycling

I return all of my bottles, cans and water bottles. I usually wait until I have 4-6 cases of empty's in the garage plus a couple bags of water bottles and cans and I end up getting "Free" beer with the return $. Plus it help my local beer store because they get 7 1/2 cents per return so that's how they pay their employees. Everyone wins!

 

Crazy. That is always what I wondered, but it seems so counter intuitive to deposits (at least as I understand them decades ago in the US and currently in other countries) that I didn't think it was possible. I guess it works as an incentive to let them crush your bottles, though

 

“There are breweries in the PNW that are reporting a 40-60% recovery rate for reusable bottles.”

Could you please list the breweries that are still utilizing refillable bottles?

The last local (to me) brewery that used refillable bottles was Straub and they stopped the practice (details in a prior post by jesskiden).

Cheers!

 

When you discuss US breweries you are talking about MillerCoors and Anheuser Busch. I'm more of an advocate for a localized economy and thus my statistics will reflect that.
Captured by Porches Brewing Co. in Portland, OR reports a 45-60% recovery rate (subject to seasonal fluctuation)
Their bottles, produced locally (cuts down on shipping costs and "embodied energy") in Vancouver, WA cost about $1.38 per bottle. They charge a deposit of $1 a bottle and thus get more of their bottle back that say Sierra Nevada does because no one cares about 5 cents. Because of their ability to reuse a number of the bottles multiple times, they have been able to offset the cost of lost bottles.

 

Ive only come across a few and most of them are out west. You might do better on a local level to find craft breweries near you that have returnable programs.

Captured by Porches Brewing Co., Portland, OR
Double Mountain Brewery, Hood River, OR
Bayern Brewing, Inc., Missoula, MT
Tree House Brewing Co., Monson, MA

Thats all I have for now, but I'm constantly searching for successful reuse programs, so if anyone has more, please share!

 

Oh yes, those saints that go around picking through people's recycling to collect nickels on bottles that are still getting crushed? What exactly are they solving? At least they lower the amount of unclaimed deposits the state gets to reap at the end of the year

 

“They charge a deposit of $1 a bottle…” That is brutal! I do not think that is a business practice that will receive wide reception by typical beer consumers.

Does it really take an onerous deposit like this to get refillable bottle to ‘work’?

In the distant past I would purchase beer with refillable bottles (e.g., Rolling Rock) and I would have to pay a deposit of $1.50 for that first case (about 6 cents per bottle). When I went to purchase a another case of beer at the retail beer distributor I would bring in the case of empties (they would hand me a ‘chit’ which equated to $1.50) and I would hand back that ‘chit’ when I purchased my new case of beer (essentially a $1.50 discount on my new purchase). I personally would refuse to pay $24 as a deposit for a case of beer.

Cheers!

 

As a CbP retailer that sounds about right. We average 1-2 cases per week in sales, and end up getting 6-10 returns every week. The return rate would probably be higher if it weren't for home brewers saving them for their own use rather than returning them to a retailer.

As for Double Mountain, I don't know what their return rate looks like anywhere else, but we average about 12-15% return rate on their bottles.

 

This is what I do with Belgian beer. When the cost savings per beer and cost of gas per beer is less than the cost of the local price of Belgian beer is when I go up. Granted I am paying about half price for gas on base compared to what the Germans are paying.

 

CbP uses 750ml flip top bottles and cost $5-6 each not including the deposit, so it's rare that people buy more than 1-2 at a time.

 

I understand your confusion. They don't work with your standard 12 oz. bottles though. They are working with craft brews in 750mL containers.
http://capturedbyporchesnews.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-do-you-want-to-use-reusable-bottles.html

 

You mean the two companies that account for 80% of the beer brewed in the US? Yeah. Something tells me they probably account for 80% of throw-away bottles, as well.

But the breweries I'm talking about are the ones which continued to use the returnable/refillable bottles longest - particularlly Straub, Yuengling and The Lion on east coast, which only gave up on the package in the last few years. Straub's experience with having to pay for new molds from the glass manufacturer (since no one else in the US used refillables) is probably the most informative.

 

Similiarly, the milk i buy is from a local farm in refillable class jugs. The deposits are 1.50, and because of that I always return them.

Good question: How much does the deposit have to be for you to return the bottle? Obviously 5 cents is too low. 1.50 might be so high that it would deter people from purchasing it in the first place.

 

...And they are rubber swing top bottles.... basically a mini growler.

 

E

Except the environment. Plastics are a terrible resource in terms of recyclability because the vase majority of recycled plastics will turn into an unrecylable finished product the second time around...therefore, you only get two uses out of that raw material before it goes to the landfill--very inefficient when compared to the numerous uses you can get out of a reused product

 

It the question people like us are constantly trying to answer. Where is the line between deterrent and incentive?

 

I wonder how Bayern Brewing, Inc., Missoula, MT is able to economically obtain their refillable bottles?

Cheers!

 

Ah yes, from Wikipedia citing a source with a broken link...

You do realize that there are many many factors contributing to the "container recycling rate." For example, how easy is it to recycle containers? Apparently some states don't even have recycling pickups - obviously this has a massive impact on the recycling rate, much more than a nickel.

 

Montana has no glass recycling program and western MT is rather progressive for the most part...at least when it comes to sustainable practices. I'm still trying to get in touch with them regarding this as they have the largest base out of all the others i could find with reuse programs

 

I am familiar with Straub's struggles. Its exactly the fact that they account for 80% that is so unsettling. They basically have a monopoly on the market and thus control the use of recyclables over reusables. Something tells me they have a stake in the recycling industry on some level. But there are a number of smaller, more localized breweries that are instituting these reuse practices and they are working!