Y
our customer sipped the last of that special With the inclusion of wine and bourbon you released last year and is excitedspirits, California’s updated ly awaiting your next special release, but what do bottle bill is a preview of they do with your empty bottle? If your customer lives in Smith not only believes California, or one of nine other states with ‘bottle bills,’ that what’s to come. that other states will bottle has a greater chance of being recycled because of an update their programs, update to California’s bottle-return program. he says DISCUS is “It’s an important message we need to get out there,” said on board with these Adam Smith, vice president of state policy for DISCUS. reports changes. Commonly called bottle bills, several states like California that less than “The Distilled Spirits have laws that govern statewide beverage container recycling 10 percent of glass Council and our memprograms (BCRPs). In these states, consumers pay a small gets recycled because it’s ber companies want to fee (anywhere from two to 15 cents per container depending a more difficult material to be good environmental on size) when they purchase aluminum cans and plasprocess for several reasons. stewards and for our tic or glass bottles of beverages like soda, water, One is that glass is heavy. It consumers [to have] and beer. After consuming, the customer takes weighs 10 times as much as the ability to be able to recycle our the empty containers to a recycling center to plastic making it much more products and make sure they are being used for get that fee back thus providing a monetary carbon-intensive to produce a clean stream of ‘cullet,’ which is what they make reincentive to encourage recycling. Wine and transport. However, the cycled glass bottles from.” and spirits packaging was exempt from main reason is the rise of sinCalifornia’s program until the passage gle-stream recycling across of SB1013 in 2022. Starting in 2024 the country. Single-stream wine and spirits packaging — most recycling — where all recycommonly glass bottles — will now be clables go into one bin — included in California’s BCRP. “Spirits means glass is easily contamand wine containers in California will inated with paper and plastic officially be redeemable for a 10-cent (and vice versa) making all deposit,” Smith explained. “The conproducts more difficult to sumer pays that 10 cents at the time process. To make new glass of purchase and if they return the confrom old, the recycled matetainer to a recycling center, they get rial — crushed glass pieces that 10 cents back.” Wine and spirits called cullet — must be pure, will be included in Oregon’s BCRP in meaning no paper, metals, or Written by Carrie Dow 2025. other contaminants. According to the National ConSingle-stream collecting ference on State Legislatures, 10 US requires large amounts of Glass is the dominant beverage container material in the disstates and one territory (California, labor and energy to remove tilling industry; however, the rise of ready-to-drink cocktails Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, contaminants before glass means aluminum can use is increasing, and some multinational Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, can be reused and municipal spirits brands use plastic containers. And while all these maOregon, Vermont, and Guam) have budgets simply don’t have terials can be recycled, different states have different methods these deposit return programs in place the money to pay for that. for doing so. Even with state-run recycling programs, recycling and according to the Sierra Club, these Many cities and counties levels in the US are far below what they should be. Over the last states have beverage container recyacross the country stopped few decades several states created BCRPs to increase recycling, cling rates of 66 percent compared to accepting glass in municipal but originally exempted wine and spirits (beer, with its majoronly 24 percent in states without such recycling programs back in ity single-serving containers, was included). Smith says that as programs. In California, that rate is 70 2018 when China stopped levels of pollution continue to rise — especially in states with percent. (Note: ready-to-drink cockaccepting US trash for recysignificant shorelines like California and Michigan — these tails usually found in aluminum cle sorting. These issues keep programs will require the spirits industry’s full participation. cans are already includglass recycling less profitIdeally, every bottle of single malt a customer finishes ed in most states’ able compared to aluminum, should get recycled into another bottle for another distillbottle bills.) making it difficult to fund the er to fill with carefully crafted gin or barrel-aged rum. The recycling of it, thus creating a reality is that’s not happening. The Sierra Club vicious cycle.
L ABEL
U P!
W W W . ARTISANSPIRITMAG . C O M
33