Back when I was a kid, my folks always purchased their soda in the bottle.  After all the pop had been guzzled, the six empty bottles were returned to the store, where a refund was given per soda bottle.  Not only did this put some money back in the hands of my cash stricken parents, it helped out the bottler (I’ve been told bottles are more cheaply made with recycled glass than raw products), and reduced landfills.

Does anyone remember this process?

While soda bottles, along with 8 tracks and jelly shoes, are but a memory, beer bottles are still thriving.  I would guess that 99.8% of the beer I purchase at the store utilizes the bottle to deliver the sweet malty goodness to my glass.  It sure would be nice to get a deposit back!  I would guess that most beer consumers don’t recycle their bottles (I do–mine are reused for to house home brewed beer).  With “going green” all the rage these days, it seems like every brewery is doing something for the environment.  While I see brewers utilizing solar power, wind power, and implementing water conservation methods, I never see any brewery tackling the bottle problem.  So I had to hand it to Boulevard Brewing Company when I discovered their latest venture, Ripple Glass.

Boulevard Brewing Company, realizing that their bottles (10 million per year!) were ending up in landfills, decided to create a company that would eliminate the waste.  Kansas City businesses use over 100 million pounds of recycled glass every year, but all that glass comes from outside the KC metro area.  Setting up recycling stations throughout the city, Ripple Glass now saves bottles from an eternity in local landfills and sells them to local fiberglass producers.

I applaud their efforts (and their beer)…I wouldn’t mind sampling and reviewing a few bottles of their new Smokestack Series, but unfortunately it doesn’t distribute to Northwest Ohio. (hint, hint).

But let me backtrack to earlier in this article.  Why not bring back the whole “deposit/refund” idea?  Granted, many grocery store beer consumers will be hard pressed to bring their bottles back to the store, but for those nerds who are in their local beer store two or three times a week, returning the bottles would be preferred, especially if a small refund were in order.

The bottle simply would been to be washed, label removed, and sanitized, and could then be reused by the brewery.  I am sure this could be done for less than the price of a new bottle?  This is what most home brewers, myself included do.  I have never bought a new empty bottles for my homebrew, and know of none who have.

Perhaps I am pragmatist who lacks the foresight to see the major hiccups in the system, but if it once worked for soda bottles, it at least seems plausible.  Regardless, a tip of the hat to you, Boulevard Brewing Company, for your green entrepreneurial mindset and moxy!