Comments on: Boulevard Brewing Company, Ripple Glass, and Recycling

By: beer_scientist

beer_scientist — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:57:28 +0000

True! The categorical imperative has gone out the window.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:24:09 +0000

@simplybeer: Yea, you are right…personal discomfort or gain is usually the world’s primary motivators. Too bad it’s not conviction!

I’ve been dying to get into kegging…not gonna happen till I sell my house and have more space though.

By: Simply Beer

Simply Beer — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:08:07 +0000

Bigger Landfills, one in every town!!! somehow it takes an impact on your personal space or pocketbook to get people moving in the right direction.

Like nate, I also did recycle many bottles into my homebrewing, but now most of them are collecting dust since moving to kegs. What I do drink now goes to the recycle bin.

By: beer_scientist

beer_scientist — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:07:42 +0000

Bottles and cans and just clap your hands…sorry, who else was going to do that Beck reference if I didn’t. I’m actually waiting to redeem some bottles that I’ve got. The funny thing is that I got rid of a ton of bottles (800 or so) before I moved to Cali. Wish I had that $.05-.10 a bottle now.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:26:18 +0000

@Jim: Michigan offers the highest redemption value…If you are a Seinfeld fan, you might even remember an episode in which Newman and Kramer tried to get rich by doing exactly what you describe…driving over to michigan to redeem their bottles…funny episode!

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:03:22 +0000

When I was a kid in Iowa, my summers were bankrolled on refunded recyclable bottles and cans. Later as a teen in Michigan, they kept my gas gauge off empty. I now live in New Jersey and and there’s no cash value for recyclables. We just give them away at the curb. But not everyone recycles because there’s really no incentive. It makes no sense.

I live near the New York state line and often think of the money I could make rounding up the neighbors bottles and cans and driving across the border. Sort of like a homeless entrepreneur with a Subaru.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:49:59 +0000

“The town sells the glass to someone and the funds generated are supposed to lower my taxes but I haven’t seen that happen yet.” ahahahahaaaa

Too funny Scott.

i think a fantastic business idea would be collecting a breweries used bottles, cleaning, de-labeling, and selling them back to the brewery for a nominal price. I’m sure that would amount to more than an elusive tax break!

By: scott-thebrewclub

scott-thebrewclub — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:36:27 +0000

Some states do this, and it makes sense. I know in NY and VT, like in CA, you pay for it up front, I guess its a deposit on the bottle really. In NJ, we’re mandated to clean and recycle the bottles for free. The town sells the glass to someone and the funds generated are supposed to lower my taxes but I haven’t seen that happen yet.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:23:35 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Andrea. I didn’t know that CA still participated in this system. Sandra makes vases out of old bottles and rope.

Someday Mike and I will save tons reusing old bottles.

By: Byrd Reinhardt

Byrd Reinhardt — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:33:16 +0000

Nate, nice work in promoting greener bottle use. We participate in the deposit/refund system here in California; of course, it doesn’t actually put extra money into your pocket (you pay a CRV fee when you check out, so the $0.05 you get back / bottle [$0.10 for larger bottles] is part of what you’re charged at the register), but hopefully it provides some incentive for people to recycle, especially if they otherwise would not have. (Also, sad as it is, I see plenty of people go through the trash for others’ unclaimed CRV materials; again, recycling something that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.)

I like the idea of breweries re-using the bottles, though; after all, in the “green cycle,” REUSE is the second part of the mantra (I am, of course, thinking of reduce and recycle as the other members), particularly since it takes even less energy and resources to do this than it does even to recycle. Another good reason to take up homebrewing? Mike has found lots of good use for empty bottles every time he brews a new batch. : )