A Refresher Course In Beer Bottle Recycling

A few days ago, I attended a potluck at a friend of a friend's house and while everyone was expected to contribute one dish, the host was generous enough to supply all of the alcohol...and I'm not talking about a box of wine and a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon, either.

In fact, the host supplied such a diverse collection of beer and liquor that attendees were plowing through the offerings with reckless abandon, and as they made their way through the stash, they clunked empties into the garbage pail in the kitchen.

Once I got wind of the situation and could see that the garbage pail literally runeth over, I asked the host where their recycling container was so that I could help her properly dispose of all the glass.

She said that they didn't recycle, to which I responded with a gaping wide mouth hung open and a "REALLY???!?!?"

This is far more common than you might realize, though -- according to the Earthworks Group, about 28 billion bottles and jars are thrown away every year. In other words, roughly 25% of all the glass produced each year actually makes it into the recycling bin.

Despite the fact that the material is fully recyclable and can be turned into lots of shiny new glass bottles or upcycled into pavement, drinking glasses, and countless other objects, people just aren't getting on board.

It's literally a matter of dropping it into the proper container and dragging it to the curb -- seriously people, could they make it any easier for us?

This is the part where I remind everyone just how many cool things old beer bottles can be turned into, from Texas-based Tabby, Inc.'s fantabulous chandelier to A&A Glassworks' beer bottle bowl which contains approximately 1 beer bottle that has been processed and fused into a unique pattern on a 9 inch round window glass plate.

Home decor is certainly nice, but bottles (en masse) can create a structurally sound effect that is well suited to construction -- Wat Lan Kuad monks proved that with their Temple Of A Million Bottles created entirely from beverage receptacles that were donated by the community.

A lot closer to home -- Milwaukee to be exact -- the Blatz Brewery building was converted into condos back in 2006 utilizing cases upon cases of unused beer bottles as part of the design.

According to SustainaBrew, "Each pivoting bottle door is 9'-6" wide and 9' tall and consists of a welded aluminum frame and 1,590 horizontally stacked empty beer bottles, some of which were original Blatz bottles found in unopened boxes in the basement of this old brewery. Using CNC technology, the bottles are held in place by a thin web of precision-milled neoprene rings that are suspended between the members of the aluminum frame."

It's high time that we think before we chuck -- it's just that simple. 

There is a great future for every item that passes through our fingers, we just have to shift our mentality over into one that always asks, "What Can I Turn This Into?!?"