I’ve been recycling since I was a child. In NJ it was mandatory and you could be fined for not recycling. Everything had to be sorted and put out properly. I don’t know if that’s still the case but that’s how it was when I was growing up. Recycling has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. But now living in Florida they have decided in my county and some of the neighboring ones not to recycle glass. It's so absurd because glass is the most recyclable thing we make! And according to recyclenow.com it can be recycled endlessly with no loss to quality. I’m looking into what I can do or who I can write to try to change this but in the meantime, I’m looking for ways I can reduce the glass I buy.
Reduce and reuse - That is the plan for glass until Tampa Bay comes to its senses and, the US government starts being responsible for recycling our own waste and not shipping it to other countries. But that’s not what this blog is about. This blog is about glass and what I’m doing about it. To see how I’ve been reusing click HERE, where I turn some of my old wine bottles into artistic decor.
To reduce, the first thing I did was look around my kitchen and see what was causing the most glass waste and I identified 3 things.
Spice containers (dried basil, pepper, cumin, etc.) I usually buy these in glass but I could switch to plastic if it’s recyclable or try growing my own spices. In the past, when I tried grown herbs they’ve died but I’m willing to try again.
Oil - The Olive Oil and Sesame Oil I buy usually come in glass bottles, I could look for plastic or tin bottles containers for Olive Oil.
Jam jars and other condiments - I can try to reuse these jars and make my own jam or pickles. I can also buy olives in bags instead of jars.
Wine / Beer / Cider - The majority of my glass comes from wine bottles. I sometimes have beer or cider but mostly wine. So the solution is Box Wine.
It’s number 4 on this list that brought me to write this blog. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a store and scoffed at box wine. Scoffed and rolled my eyes. In my ignorance, I thought box wine was just for people who were too impatient to open a wine bottle and were out somewhere drinking in a parking lot straight from the box. Yea, I guess living near wine country made me a little bit of a snob.
But now with my recycling situation, I’ve started researching box wine and I’ve found out some very interesting things. My most significant revelation is that box wine is kind of amazing! Most of the brands I’ve looked at give you 3 Liters of wine in one box which is equivalent to four bottles. Most of these boxes are in the $20 range which means each bottle is only about $5. And it lasts much longer than a bottle of wine. Most bottles of wine start to oxidize within a week after opening, and if you leave them much longer then you’ve got vinegar going on. But I’ve read that some box wines will last 6 weeks and the last glass is as good as the first, which makes a lot of sense since it’s more wine they had to find a way to give it a longer shelf life.
What doesn’t make sense is why I’ve been against wine in a box for so long. It’s basically wine on tap which I’ve had many times. So, why not do it at home instead of at a wine bar? Especially now with Covid-19. Now that I think about it I’m really surprised I didn’t make this change sooner. The only thing that was holding me back now was worrying that I would not find a wide variety of wines, but when I searched online I found a nice selection. I’m really excited about it now. I plan to do a monthly blog on my box wine trials. I hope my revelation about box wine has inspired some who read this blog to give it a try too, especially if your area is stopping glass recycling like mine. We all need to find ways to reduce our waste and if can save money at the same time that's even better. I hope you find some ways to reduce waste and still enjoy the things you love. Cheers!
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