Many people savor the thought of a great glass of wine in the evening but have you given much thought to how the wine is packages and what’s best for the environment? A bottle of wine is obviously the classic choice. You can also now find wine in these big boxes and new are these tetra packs that look like giant juice boxes of wine. However, the choice for which is better for the environment isn’t as simple as it seems.
Let’s begin with the bottle. Glass is 100% recyclable and can be made into new glass over and over again. Some wine bottles are made recycled glass but not all. The bottles are easy to recycle. Just toss them into your recycling bin. But bottled wine cost more and much of it is due to shipping. 20 billion bottles of wine are shipped by road and sea each year and because of their weight, it’s the most expensive packaging to ship.
Second choice is the traditional boxed wine. These are the big boxes that contain a plastic pouch inside with a plastic spout. It usually hold the amount contained and pour glass bottles of wine but weight more than 2/3 left. The cardboard itself is recyclable but the plastic spout and the plastic bag are not.
The third choice is tetra packs they are made with paper plastic and aluminum. The biggest benefit is the fact that they take less energy to make and ship. Their weight is roughly half of a traditional bottle but the biggest draw back is what to do with these cartons once the wine is gone. Study shows they are usually thrown in the trash because recycling them is difficult and expensive.
So there’s no clear winner when it comes to the different types of packaging for wine but you can reduce the amount of energy needed for transporting the wine when you choose a local winery. We’ve included that link to website with a list of wineries in every State in the test version of this story. Whatever choice you make, make sure you’re recycling or reusing the packaging. It’s just another way to do your part when you are enjoying your favorite glass of wine.
To learn more about reducing, reusing and recycling visit TerriBennett.com/DoYourPart.
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