In this morning's column, I wrote about boxed wine as a way to lessen the impact of imbibing.
There are, of course, many local wineries. And some top notch local beer breweries, some of which even let you buy the brew in refillable “growlers.”
(By the way, those in the eco-know tell me that when you’re at a bar or restaurant and you’re not sure whether the place recycles the bottles, order on tap.)
The region even has a local gin — Blue Coat, distilled in Philadelphia. It got top ratings from a local group of researchers and gin afficionados.
Then there’s the whole range of organic alcohol drinks.
But back to boxes:
At least one reader challenged the value of cardboard over glass, so here are more details from David Biddle of the Greater Philadelphia Recycling Council.
“The bottom line issue is that cardboard recycling tends to save 60 percent of the energy used to make cardboard out of trees. Whereas glass recycling, even at the highest level — bottles into bottles — tends to only save about 40 percent of the energy that would be used if you were making glass directly out of silica material.”
As for the plastic bladder, it looks like that can’t be recycled, at least for now.
I had hoped people could cut off the little spigot and put the plastic bag into the plastic bag recycling bins in grocery stores.
So I called Rocco D’Antonio, with the Philadelphia grocery bag and packaging supplier, Penn Jersey Paper.
He said if the bladder plastic was a laminant, that would be a problem. I wasn’t sure, but either way, he also told me they can’t accept things with food or liquid residue on them.
I’m betting that will change in not too long, and there will be a way to recycle the bladders.
Meanwhile … cheers!
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.
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