Have you ever thought about the Carbon Footprint of a Glass Bottle?

The eco footprint of glass is large, the benefit being that glass can be recycled. When we consider the three “Rs” of recycling, Recycle is listed last for a reason. If we Reduce and Reuse, it will have a much better effect on reducing our carbon footprint.

To make glass, the sand and silica are mined, then shipped to a foundry and melted at 2700 C. Then the empty bottles are shipped to a warehouse, then sold and shipped to a winery, then filled and shipped to a warehouse, then sold and shipped to a retail outlet. Already, these bottles have produced an enormous carbon footprint, and the journey isn’t over yet!

Once the retail outlet has them, the client buys the wine or beer and brings the bottles home. Then the beer or wine is consumed, and the bottles emptied. The client brings them to the recycling depot, where they get shipped to a facility to be cleaned and sorted or melted and re-fabricated. And then shipped to a warehouse, then sold and shipped to a winery, then sold and shipped to a warehouse, and so on… The carbon footprint gets larger and larger!

In the homebrew world, we eliminate a HUGE amount of shipping and thus reduce your carbon footprint dramatically. For example: the bottles are shipped to WineKitz empty (lower carbon footprint) purchased by you and filled onsite. Then, once you drink the beer or wine, you clean the bottles and return them to WineKitz to refill them and to bring them back home.

It becomes a closed loop. The bottles go from your home, back to WineKitz, then back to your home, then back to WineKitz. No large trucks, no warehouses, no shipping.

Reduce your carbon footprint, save money AND get a better product!