Revino Launches End-to-End Refillable Glass Bottle Reuse System

For all the noise coming out of the Biden Administration about reducing carbon emissions, it's amazing how much of the low-lying, easy-to-pick fruit it has missed while building a network of recharging stations and remaking America's automobile fleet.

Here's another one: Glass bottles. In particular, glass wine  bottles, which is the most carbon-heavy element of the wine industry. A single glass bottle generates an estimated 1.28 kg of CO2.  In 2022, 16.2 billion food and beverage containers were shipped to U.S. producers. Only 9% to 30% of those 16.2 billion bottles were recycles, and none were reused commercially.

Now, Revino Inc., a Eugene, Ore., which provides wine bottle and sanitation services to Oregon wine producers, says it has developed a new reusable glass bottle system that offers emissions reductions of up to 85% compared to single-use bottles and can be refilled up to 85 times. The Returnable Glass Bottles (RGB) break even on carbon emissions after the third reuse.

Upon being received, the RGBs will undergo an advanced washing and label removal process. Revino is actively participating in the development of national and global standards for reuse systems and is committed to exceeding these standards with third party certification when available. This certification ensures a meticulously controlled quality washing process, providing bottles that are cleaner than new, a validation of their commitment to maintaining the highest standards of cleanliness and sustainability.

“Revino’s vision is to revolutionize the wine industry by offering a seamless and environmentally friendly alternative to the conventional ‘single-use’ mindset. We are proud to introduce our end-to-end refillable glass bottle reuse system, addressing the pressing need for sustainability in the wine sector,” states Keenan O’Hern, Co-Founder of Revino. “Our innovative RGBs will enable wineries to embrace circular economy principles, significantly reducing their carbon footprint and contributing to a healthier planet for future generations.”

Revino and the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC) are finalizing a partnership to use Oregon’s existing deposit return infrastructure for beverage containers to serve as a return pathway for consumers to retrieve the bottles for washing and reuse, and credit consumers for their refund value. OBRC is the beverage industry steward of Oregon’s Bottle Bill and operates the BottleDrop network, a convenient statewide system of redemption centers and bag drop-off sites to collect containers and credit consumers for their refund values.

“Oregon’s first-in-the-nation Bottle Bill continues to have the highest redemption rate and the most convenient container return pathways in the nation,” said Eric Chambers, VP of Strategy and Outreach at the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative. “Consumers in Oregon are already familiar with our system, which gives us a lot of confidence we can help Revino get the bottles back to be reused.”

Revino will purchase 2.4 million RGBs with the intention to supply more than 30 wineries with reusable bottles for their 2024 bottlings. Consumers will be able to identify the refillable bottle by its unique, elegant leaf-inspired design on the bottle and the word “REFILLABLE” embossed around the base. RGBs can be returned to one of Revino’s partner wineries or return locations so they can be sorted and cleaned at the company’s sanitation facility, set to be constructed in Q3 2024. Once sanitized, they will be returned to winery partners for reuse.