Why has hitting the bottle become a green initiative?

© Time Out London Borough Wine’s Refill Scheme
© Time Out London

The environmentally-friendly glass bottle

For generations, families have gone through the process of washing out their empty glass bottles before leaving them on the doorstep to be collected.

By reusing glass bottles in this fashion, we have played a role in reducing the amount of carbon we put into the atmosphere, however slight.

Fast-forward to the 21st century and we have a world that is highly focused on improving our standards of living.

As a result of this, and quite surprisingly, the environmentally-friendly glass bottle is still a prevalent part of our lives. One company has realised this and has taken steps to ensure we get the most out of our glass.

Borough Wine’s refill scheme

Over the past few months, Borough Wine’s on Hackney’s Wilton Way has launched a new refill scheme, which is proving a roaring success among wine lovers.

The refill-your-own-bottle scheme offers white, red and rosé wines that would normally sell at around £10 in a 75cl bottle. However, if you bring your own bottle and refill it from the barrels inside the shop, you only pay around £6 for a litre of wine.

Environmental and financial benefits

Financially, it ticks all the right boxes, but what about the environmental side?

While the amount of carbon we save may not be a drastic amount with this scheme, when you compare it to the way in which people usually purchase wine, the difference is noticeable.

Although the concept of reusing glass bottles is not innovative, it is a scheme that most people should consider when next wine-shopping. Not only will they receive high-quality wine at affordable prices, but the environment benefits greatly from this too.

The future of the glass bottle

The glass bottle has been part of our lives for generations, and will continue to play its role. By taking advantage of its resourcefulness, we can do our part to improve the environment by reducing carbon levels with a reusable source that is already available. It’s a wonder that more of these schemes don’t play a larger part in our lives.