Waste Recycling Plant

Recycled wine bottles are in demand. That’s a very good thing, because we are selling more and more wine. People want to entertain at home more these days during tough economic times. When people do home entertainment, it’s inevitable that many of them will buy more wine. Yet in spite of this increased desire to entertain at home, people still go out to restaurants–and if they are going out less often, when they do get out they want an extra-fine experience, and that typically means going to a nice restaurant that offers wine. There are even more family-oriented restaurants selling wine, such as Olive Garden. We’re also drinking more wine these days because of all the reports and research touting the beverage’s health benefits.

So, what all this increased consumption of wine leads to is a greater need to recycle wine bottles. In California alone each year, some 300 million cases of wine each containing 750 ml bottles are sold. That comes out to 3.6 billion wine bottles sold just in California each and every year. In the U.S., 70% of these end up in landfills. Only a small minority ever get re-used in the United States. But, this is changing.

Slowly but surely, more washing and recycling plants are being built in the United States. These facilities save people money while also saving on the wear and tear of the environment. Once the bottles are sterilized and recycled, they are sold to wine makers. Wine makers can purchase recycled wine bottles for less money than they can purchase new ones. If wine makers save money through lowered costs, they can sell their wine for less money. Everybody wins. Recycling also mean less landfill build-up and less need for brand new glass to be produced, thus meaning enhanced environmental health and resource stability.

But what can we as individuals do at home to also help the cause?

*Make your own wine at home and pour it into used wine bottles.

*Used them as plant watering “spheres”.

*Shape used wine bottles into lovely vases or elegant drinking cups. You would need some specialized tools to make these artistic but practical creations yourself. Fortunately, finding such tools online nowadays is quite easy.

*Create beautiful necklaces and earrings using sterling silver and pieces of shaped, colored, hanging glass made from various colored wine bottles such as Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and Merlot. Once again, you would need specialized tools and some developed skills to make these objects on your own, but fear not because others are already making them for you and selling them online.

*Turn them into cheese boards. Now we all know that cheese and wine go together like peanut butter and chocolate, so a cheese board for home entertainment is a virtual necessity. Check out Vineyard Designs for an online resource.

This is just a small sample of the numerous ways companies and crafty individuals have taken used wine bottles and turned them into unique, collectible household items.