The use of

Recycled Wine Bottles

Have you ever given much thought to recycled wine bottles? If you’re like many people, you love a good bottle of wine. Since wine production is one of mankind’s oldest and most pervasive culinary and cultural traditions, there are plenty of wine bottles out there. Tons of them, in fact.

How Many Used Wine Bottles

For an illustration of how manyare out there, consider that in the United States’ single biggest wine producing state of California alone, each year 300 million cases of wine are produced containing the standard sized 750 ml bottles.

That adds up to 3.6 billion glass wine bottles released to the world each year–just from California! While many of those bottles are not emptied of their contents right away, the great majority of them are. And while in Europe a wine bottle is reused an average of eight times before being permanently discarded, in the United States 70% of all glass wine bottles end up in landfills, and typically wine bottles in America are not reused.

It’s a lot of wasted glass. It’s a lot of wasted space. That’s why we need to see many, many times more recycled wine bottles out there than there are now. However, for this to happen the U.S. will need to build many more wine bottle recycling plants such as the one in Stockton, California. Europe already has approximately 50 wine bottle washing plants.

How Recycled Wine Bottles Come Into Being
At a wine bottle recycling plant, submitted bottles are first inspected visually for any damage. Then, they are scanned for color and style via computer technology. Next comes a label-removal and initial sterilization process. Finally the bottles are washed using high-heat processes that are approved by the state health authorities. This bottle washing process completely sterilizes the bottles and is environmentally friendly. Washed wine bottles will then be re-inspected to ensure that they were not damaged in the recycling process. All bottles that have been sterilized and remained undamaged are then repackaged and sent off to wine makers to be used again.

This is an environmentally friendlier way of packaging wine. In addition, it is less expensive for the wine makers to use recycled wine bottles, meaning they are able to pass on their cost savings to wholesale and retail customers.

Other Ways of Getting Recycled Wine Bottles
We don’t need to rely exclusively on recycling plants and bottle washing plants to recycle wine bottles. We as individuals can also recycle wine bottles. More and more people are already getting in on the act using creative methods that enhance their lives practically or aesthetically while helping to keep the environment cleaner and waste down. As people decide to spend more time entertaining at home, wine sales will inevitably go up–so keeping expenses and waste down is of prime importance.

How You Can Help by Wine Bottle Crafting

In addition to the formal recycling through the usual means, you can also do some recycling on your own.  More and more companies and individuals are making use of old bottles by turning them into creative household and kitchen glassware such as cheese plate and stemless glasses.

Crafting techniques such as etching and engraving are useful for turning an already beautiful wine bottle into a unique collectible piece of art.  Have a look inside for more ideas and information to help you make your own “bottle creation”

Please make use of the information on this blog and join the effort to inspire more people to recycle wine and other types of bottles.