Tag: recycling

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Refill

Most of us old-timey beer fans have a few big growlers either getting dust in a cabinet or garage. It was super trendy for a super tiny amount of time and always seemed to come with caveats to it.

16oz cans basically killed off growlers and bomber bottles in one fell swoop but Double Mountain Brewing in Oregon has been rallying behind refillable bottles for quite some time now.

Matt Swihart from the brewery talked to OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) about recycling which you can check out HERE.

At this point, I think the battle is over. Cans have the upper hand and also, there is no beer chasing FOMO or big recycling push at the moment from the younger generation so I do not see who would take the extra time to do this.

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In the Bin

Most recycling pitches are based on guilt trips so it is refreshing to see one that leavens the mood with humor.  Take a watch right HERE.

Now we just need to get a better, national recycling plan in place where ALL of the glass gets made into new bottles and one doesn’t need to consult multiple sources to find out if a can label needs to be peeled off beforehand.

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What’s IN the Menu

Here in the U.S., malt leftover from brewing tends to go to animal feed or barley milk, dog biscuits or compost but a Japanese company, Kitafuku has another upcycled use for malt, “craft beer paper,” paper products that can be used in beer promotion such as tickets, menus, coasters and drink holders.

This is a brilliant loop for a brewery.  Order a beer from a menu made from the previous batch of the same beer you are drinking now.

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Don’t Toss the Bag

One of the keys to recycling is to make it easy to do. People will go an extra yard or two to help the earth which is why THIS program is so cool and I hope maltings will copy the plan of action.

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AB962

September 13th saw a new bottle measure added to California…

According to the Surfrider Foundation, “AB 962 would create a returnable bottle system in California and preserve bottles so that they can be washed and refilled by beverage producers rather than being crushed for recycling. It would also allow for returnable bottles to flow through the state’s Beverage Container Recycling Program (CRV/Bottle Bill). This bill would even the playing field between bottle washers and recyclers by paying the same amount.”

Granted we can do more but every little step helps. I don’t think we will ever hit the heights of growlers back in the early days but maybe we can get a return a bottle, buy a bottle going.

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Very Much Needed

Craft brewing is about creativity and we need that creativity brought by people like Local Plastic at every business step of a brewery. With the massive spike in to-go 4 and 6 packs, we need to find ways to think about making this better. Like these cardboardy holders from Highland Park Brewery.

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Recycle Artistically

Wouldn’t it be cool to see a large recycling bin like this?

Of course, for breweries it would need to be a rendition of a 16oz can but I would love to see recycling and art to meet at each and every LA brewery.

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You “Can” Recycle

One side effect of buying pretty much nothing but 4-packs is that you create quite the colorful collection of snap-tight plastic can holders. Maybe you have been recycling them but another way to help the green new deal is to return them to a brewery. Boomtown recently messaged how they would take them and I have seen that Common Space has a collection box too. Call or message first for other breweries but let’s all pitch in.

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Spent Grain BBQ

Wow, this is a cool upcycling article. Considering that the sheer amount of cows are considered a “tiny” bit of our ecosystem problems having an alternative way to use spent grain will become much needed and to use it in new ways like this will become increasingly important as our brewery count still has a bit of upwards trajectory to it. Makes you wonder what other uses can be found.

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Clean ReUse

I have seen Ecover products in multiple stores but I have not seen this new cleaner from the Belgian company. It is a “washing up liquid” that is “partly made from beer waste.”

Those waste ingredients are water and ethanol and plus, the bottle is made of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic and plus-plus the cap is made of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic too.

I will be looking for this on shelves.