Distell brings on returnable bottles

It’s called Give Back get Back, Distell’s latest environmentally friendly returnable glass project aimed at further ‘lightweighting’ the company’s wine and cider bottles. That, says the major South African wine and spirits distributor, relates to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and lower electricity costs. Distell is encouraging greater involvement by the retail and on-consumption trade as well as the general public, by paying for every bottle returned, up to four times more than for cullet glass, the term describing recycled container glass derived from broken receptacles crushed before being made up into new glass containers. Give Back Get Back spans all product categories in which Distell is involved, covering 63 different products across nearly 150 bottle sizes. Frans Booysen, responsible for Distell’s returnable receptacles, says the company pays its trade customers anywhere between 80c and R1.50 per bottle returned. The campaign also works through a return network involving more than 1 000 bottle merchants nationwide. Once delivered to Distell, the bottles are sorted, cleaned and their labels removed before undergoing several washing and rinsing cycles and being quality checked before they are sent for refilling.