Glass bottles - policy in 2008?

[sitdancer]

i did not realize anything about glass bottles not being allowed this year, but i think there was a special mention that they were OK last year. anybody has word on how this will be handled in '08!

i hate cans.

also, wasn't there some rumors about the draft beers this year being regular instead of 3.2 percent?

[scottt]

Please remember that the beer is 3.2% BY WEIGHT, not the usual 'by volume' measurement you're used to. It works out to over 4%abv - just a hair less potnet than the stuff you usually buy....

[sitdancer]

interesting. i guess that means the selection of new belgium they have is just too light in taste for my preferences. i would not really care too much about the amount of alcohol, but the wheat beer is not tasting strong enough for me and the flat tire is not my cup of tea either.

that is still interesting, how come they have this difference between 'by volume' and 'by weight'?

[travelphan]

[quote:2b8c0b10ef=\"sitdancer\"]i did not realize anything about glass bottles not being allowed this year, but i think there was a special mention that they were OK last year. anybody has word on how this will be handled in '08!

i hate cans.

also, wasn't there some rumors about the draft beers this year being regular instead of 3.2 percent?[/quote:2b8c0b10ef]

I don't think they are \"not allowed\" but discouraged. This is what it says on the recyclusa section:

Leave your glass at home. It?s heavy, it breaks, and it?s a general pain in our recycling rears. The money from recycling aluminum cans benefits local not-for-profits while glass costs money to transport to the recycling center. Shudder at the thought of aluminum encased beverages? Simply rinse the glass bottles and take them home with you, and this is especially handy if you?re from a bottle law $tate.

Simply rinse the glass bottles and take them home with you, and this is especially handy if you?re from a bottle law $tate.

[sexfaery]

I bring my own blue bags for recycling - rinse my glass, plastic or cans and return home with them to recycle. I also TRY (stress the try) to make as little other garbage as possible. I know it is not possible to make no garbage, but I do my best. This year I plan on bringing my new camp table setting instead of paper plates and stuff.

[sitdancer]

it would be helpful for example if they had a compost. i will be bringing mainly fresh veggies to cook with.

but as for beer, the kinds i like i don't even think are sold in cans. and it just feels / tastes nicer out of a glass bottle. and the argument that aluminum benefits local non-profits might be true, the energy-costs for recycling aluminum are a lot higher than for glass though. maybe somebody has a link to a full life-cycle comparison between bottles and cans? i would be surprised if cans are the more eco-friendly option of the two, but i am lacking prove - just a gut feeling.

[Uptownin']

4% abv? They still make that stuff?

I'm hoping to bring a batch of \"Waka\" home-brew with me, definitely more than 4%.

As for the comparison between bottles and cans, I don't have any info on hand, but I seem to recall that aluminum is much easier to recycle (looking at the energy involved for melting, etc.) and it's waaaay cleaner to recycle aluminum than it is to make a new can from scratch.
I re-use all my bottles though, so that's the way to go for me.

[algernon]

Glass vs. aluminum: It actually costs money to get the glass from Wakarusa recycled, due to shipping costs and the high-cost process of turning it back into something usable. I'm under the impression that the reason Recyclusa is willing to take a loss is that in 2006, all glass had to be disposed of (dumped) on entering, creating the cluster of a line and the wait. Recycling the aluminum, on the other hand, can actually turn a profit, which seems to be funneled back to local charitable organizations.

So in the interest of not creating unneccessary costs for Recyclusa (and a good reminder for all of us on Earth Day!) --

Avoid glass if you can, recycle it yourself if you need to use it, give it to recyclusa if your only other option is throwing it away.

[sitdancer]

what you are saying is only connected to the waka side. i completely agree that recycling alu is much better than extracting new stuff from the earth. and i can also see how the collecting is easier. that does not mean that the total impact on the environment is less, just because you need more energy to get the glass to the recycling plant does not mean the total process uses more energy. and using cans, even if they are recycled in the end, will also lead to a higher demand of virgin raw material, the extraction of which REALLY screws up the environment.

but again, i have no life-cycles analysis that i have seen. i just think that the picture waka paints here is only for their part in the process, not the process as a whole. and only the whole process counts if you really want to be eco-concious (which would probably mean not drinking at all, since there is always energy wasted in producing and shipping the stuff around - but that won't really be an option at a festival).

[RobDogg15]

I'm glad this topic was brought up. I, for one, wouldn't have really thought about the difference b/t recycling glass vs. aluminum at the festival. Since we're flying, we'll be buying plenty of glass bottles once we get to KC. Especially since y'all have so many tasty brews that we can't get out here -- New Belgium included.

That being said, I'll take this into account when it comes to the supply of cheap beer I'll buy (which probably won't be much) and make sure that consists of only cans.

Also, can someone point me to a recycling center on the way out of Lawrence? That way we'll just bag our glass seperately and recycle it ourselves on the way back to the airport.

Wow, I just realized how much I don't want to think about June 9th.