While enjoying a glass of wine you should remember where the empty bottles end up after being consumed. Not only a lot of energy is needed to produce them, but the wine bottles are – as EPR-licenced disposable bottles – usually collected for glass recycling after a single use.
But this is not the case when it comes to the Styrian wine bottles, easily recognisable by the emblems of the region of Styria, the so-called Styrian Panther, stamped onto the bottle. Up to 5 million such bottles, filled with high-quality wine, are sold in Styria each year.
Within the framework of the project “Allweg-Steiermarkflasche“ (“The multi-path Styrian bottle”), initiated by the Department for Waste and Resource Management of the Provincial Government of Styria, customers have the alternative option to return empty wine bottles to be refilled and reused instead of collect them for recycling (therefore “multi-path bottle” – recycling or reuse path). This alternative returnable system is established without a deposit system.
Around 90 winegrowers, over 100 branches of a supermarket chain as well as as well as 6 resource parks or waste collection centers in Styria participate in the project by collecting and/or refilling the valuable wine bottles.
Watch the video "The Styrian wine bottle – indulgence with responsibility!" to find out more about the reuse system for Styrian wine bottles.
