A Thousand Gods
I like to think that when Simon Sharpe and Lauren Keenan heard they'd been named The Real Review Rising Star of the Year, they cried out "miladiou!"
"We want to see a balance between recycling and reuse; not a total dominance of recycling."
Green Bottle Project intends to collect, wash and sterilise glass bottles for reuse and resale, working with craft and commercial breweries, niche milk producers, and wine companies.
The company recently received funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority and has now imported all the machinery it needs, says Neil. "Once in operation our first factory will be able to process up to 20 million bottles per annum from collection in supermarkets and other outlets; then washing, removing the labels and inspecting the bottles for the smallest of defects or foreign bodies."
It will be easy for wineries to adopt, with the same bottles and capsule currently used, while adjustments to label base stock will ensure they can be washed off, he says. "Labels can also be composted as part of the process and all aluminimum closures can be recycled once cut off the bodies prewashing."
However, initial interest from the wine industry has been "somewhat disappointing", due to a "wait and see approach", Neil adds, putting that down to a resistance to change.
Dr Edwin Massey, General Manager of Sustainability for New Zealand Winegrowers, says one of the complications of reusing bottles in New Zealand is the quantity of wine exported, with the return of bottles from abroad an untenable option.
