Beverages

The most problematic aspect about drinks is their containers. Beverage containers often account for as much as 30-40% of the waste stream at events. The good news is that all of that is recyclable. Still, we always promote reducing and reusing before recycling because of the energy costs of producing and recycling materials.

Different events will have different ways of approaching beverage container reduction and collection. All events benefit from having recycling receptacles.  Large events can encourage people to bring their own water bottles and supply water refill stations or water fountains. Small events can provide people with glasses and ceramic mugs. Meetings can have water, juice, tea, and coffee pitchers or crafts instead of individual servings.

When offering beer, serve from a tapped keg when possible instead of individually bottled servings. Use pint glasses when possible and encourage reusing glasses were feasible. With wine and cocktails, serve in glassware when possible. If disposable cups are the only option, go with recyclable cups (#6 is the plastic to look out for; many cups come in this number, so be careful! #1 and #2 are accepted at most recycling centers). If you are offering composting, you can source biodegradable cups, but make sure your signs communicate to the public and/or wait staff that those cups go in the compost and NOT the recycling. Finally, recycle all of the bottles from the bar at the end of the night!

With drinks, the challenge to go local can be very easy or very hard. Water from the tap is about as local as you can get. With the microbrew movement, there is a large variety of high quality beer available virtually anywhere in the U.S. Some states have a good local wine selection. If one looks hard enough, locally produced liquor can be found. However, finding locally produced juice and soft drinks is next to impossible. If you serve coffee or tea, organic and fair trade are the socially and environmentally preferred choices.

Cost Savings Opportunities: Switching from bottled water to filtered tap water represents a huge cost savings. In the United States, tap water quality, which is government regulated, is very high in most places. Bottled water is not regulated, so consistent quality is uncertain. Waste disposal costs will be lower as well.

Green Lens Questions: Where does it come from? How can we reduce before we recycle? What is feasible for the venue and audience? How can we reclaim the greatest percentage of beverage containers sold or given out?

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Recycling On the Go is made possible in part by generous grants from: