A new bottle-washing facility in south-west France is paving the way for wine and spirit bottles to be reused instead of recycled.
Recycling glass is expensive – it must be crushed to a powder and then heated at 1,200C for 24 hours before it can be used.
The idea of the company called Eco in Pack, based in Cognac, is to reuse bottles so the overall carbon footprint of each one is reduced.
“We estimate that bottles can be used at least 10 times, which if it happens means the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine is greatly reduced,” co-founder Martin Calmettes told The Connexion.
“A glass bottle represents 80% of the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine.”
Some companies such as Coca-Cola, which has deposit systems for glass bottles in cafés, use bottles up to 50 times.
New 750ml bottles in France typically cost winemakers between 30 centimes and 75 centimes, depending on energy prices at the time. By contrast, the washed bottles coming out of Eco in Pack cost between 20 and 25 centimes.
Verallia, Europe’s biggest glass maker, has had a bottle manufacturing factory in Cognac for 60 years, and last year switched from gas furnaces to electric to reduce its carbon footprint.
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It produces 10,000 bottles a day, while the bottle-washing factory set up by Eco in Pack produces 7,000 bottles a week.
“Overall, people buy 4.5 billion bottles a year in France, including glass jars and fruit juices, so we are only scratching the surface,” said Mr Calmettes.
“But the systems and expertise we develop here can be duplicated elsewhere. The idea is to have similar units close to all the major wine areas so the costs of transport are cut.”
The company has shown its operation to members of the Inno’Vin association, which encourages research and development in the sector.
Mr Calmettes said high-value, more expensive bottles, such as those used for sparkling wines and ciders, were favoured.
The company sources its bottles in three main ways: from winemakers or co-operatives who have waste bottles, from event organisers, and from a network of cafés and restaurants who would otherwise have to pay to dispose of the bottles.
Some bottles come from associations employing people with additional needs, or those getting back into the job market, who sort rubbish and put aside good bottles.
Very few of the bottles come from the consigne (deposit) system the government is trying to introduce for all French supermarkets, with trials running in the four regions of north-west France.
“Getting bottles from the supermarkets is complicated and at the moment the price of glass is low, so it is just not profitable,” Mr Calmettes said.
The bottles then have their labels removed.
Some labels using strong glues and varnishes cannot be taken off, rendering the bottles unusable. A bath in caustic soda has proved the best way of removing labels, but the company is also experimenting with a rotary brush to see if it can be incorporated usefully into the production line.
A high-tech washing machine is usedBrian McCulloch
Bottles then move into a giant, German-made washing machine, where they are cleaned with detergent in 65C water and rinsed, before moving to a drying machine where filtered cold air is blown into the hot bottles.
The next step on the line is a photographic controller, which uses five cameras to identify and filter out any bottles that show signs of dirt or cracking.
Packing the bottles into pallets is done by hand, with each bottle being checked against a light screen to make sure no faults have got through.
Although wine and spirit makers get carbon credits for reusing bottles, they are often reluctant to tell customers.
“There is a wrong idea that reused bottles are battered or not as clean as new ones, which is why its use is kept quiet,” said Mr Calmettes.
“But reusing bottles does make a significant reduction in the CO2 footprint of a bottle of wine.”
