Saving the Planet One Drink at a Time
Sun, Feb 17, 2008
If you’re like me, there has been many a time when you’re on your fourth or fifth bottle of beer and you think: “If only drinking was a more environmentally friendly hobby.”
Well crack open an ice-cold bottle of brew and celebrate, because drinking is going green.
Beer and wine retailers across the UK are getting caught up in the latest green trend as they try to cash in on the wave of environmental consumerism. The hot new thing in “green” alcohol retailing at the moment is “lightweight” glass bottles.
New technology means that less glass is needed to create a bottle of suitable strength. A bottle created using the latest technology uses over 30% less glass than a traditionally created bottle. While that doesn’t translate to huge amounts of glass for each individual bottle, the cumulative effect is huge.
In the UK alone, over 1 billion bottles are used each year just for wine. Not only does using lightweight bottles save tons of glass, it can also save a lot of energy as it takes less energy to manufacture and ship the bottles.
Tesco, one of the UK’s largest retailers, will sell 40 million lightweight bottles of wine this year. They aim to sell 25% of their wine in lightweight bottles within 2 years, a move they estimate will save almost 75,000 tons of glass.
It’s not just winemakers who are introducing the lighter bottles either. Major breweries are on board the bandwagon. Scottish and Newcastle, which owns Fosters, Kronenbourg, and several others, as well as SABMiller, which owns Pilsner Urquell and a variety of other brands, are both introducing lighter bottles.
The changes are part of the GlassRite campaign, organized by the Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP). The group attempts to make consumers and businesses more aware of the materials they use in products.
I would also be remiss in my duties as an environmental writer if I didn’t point out that all bottles of booze, lightweight or not, should be recycled. Bottoms up!
Info from Guardian
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February 18th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Now let’s see if all those “savings” will reflect in prices too :D
February 18th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Of course, if you really want to make some environmental savings (as well as savings for the wallet), an even greener option is to brew your own beer.
I have a post on the topic at Low Impact.
Tasty beer without the guilt! Well….less guilt, anyway! ;)
February 18th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
If you just drink draught beer, there are no bottles, the kegs are reused hundreds of times, and when they are finally retired, they are 100% recyclable.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
You call it binge drinking, I call it recycling!
February 18th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Does this mean they will be easier to bottle people with? *evil laugh*
February 18th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Why not just recycle the bottles?
Get yourself a government to do shit for you!
February 18th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Alcohol? That’s the stuff the government sells you, to keep all their cops employed.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
When I’m on my fourth or fifth bottle of beer, I’m not thinking about the environment. I’m thinking my boss is going to notice soon.
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2146727
February 18th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
It’s “going green” to drink beer out of disposable bottles that use less glass?
I drink my beer out of returnable bottles that get washed and re-used by the brewery. Just like most people used to a few decades ago. Too bad that version of “going green” involved work.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Don’t be cruel to beer or wine. Never let them be lonely. Always drink in pairs (of bottles).
Yule tank mee laytur. (never drink and type).
February 18th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Sweet, that means I can drink 30% more and not feel bad!
At some point, getting a pony keg seems like a good option.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Just drink wine out of a box.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
savings on glass? Give me a break… THe brewing industry is one of the most water intense industries out there… between cleaning, rinsing and sanitizing bottles, fermenters, vats, chillers, boilers…. it takes far more water to create the beer, than results in the final product… If anyon can figure out a way to crack the code on excessive water usage, will do the industry a great favor…
February 19th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico California is mostly run off solar energy and has a large fuel cell among other green initiatives. Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Boonville CA also has a large number of solar panels.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Yes - the answer is home brewing. Not just beer - you can make your own wine, too. I don’t think the wine sellers really want you to think about that!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I’d just like to point out that the main byproduct of the yeast turning the sugars into alcohol is CO2
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:37 am
If drinking more will help the environment then Al Gore has NOTHING on me!
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:41 pm
The by product CO2 can be recovered and used with new technologies to grow algae,this can be used to produce biodiesel.