Hey, we have a birthday to celebrate! And not just any birthday, because it's the one for the bottle return scheme. A year ago, we embarked on a great adventure. The adventure of bringing the bottle return scheme back into fashion all over France. After several months and a lot of determination, we became the first wine brand in France to reintroduce the bottle return scheme. To do this, we relied on several partners who followed us in our initiative. At first, we were few, and today, we have forged many partnerships with local partners throughout France. Little by little, the Oé bird builds its nest in the bottle return scheme and we are taking stock with you of the progress made over the past year.
The bottle return scheme at Oé
The benefits of the bottle return scheme
You all know it and it has existed for a very long time, abandoned in some cities in France and preserved notably in Alsace, the bottle return scheme consists of reusing bottles after use. By relaunching the bottle return scheme in the wine world on a national scale, our goal is to minimize our carbon footprint and to rely on the circular economy by valuing our bottles. The circular economy reuses resources after use instead of throwing them away. The reuse of glass is less energy-intensive than the recycling of bottles in general, which is the most widespread. The recycling of glass consists of breaking and remelting the glass in furnaces that can reach up to 1500 degrees and consume a lot of energy. To reuse glass, our return scheme partners clean the bottles with hot water, which allows them to save 50% of water compared to a newly manufactured bottle, reduce electricity use by 76% and produce 79% less greenhouse gases (Deroche Study, 2009).
If the Oé team chose to bring the bottle return scheme back into fashion in the wine sector, it is for the good of the planet. We are always looking for more consistency to do good by doing right, such as producing good organic wine respectful of the environment, from the vineyards to bottling. With the bottle return scheme, we promote short supply chains and the local economy. We create non-relocatable jobs, we reduce our glass waste and we save consumers and local communities money. Recyclingcosts local authorities 35 euros per year per ton of waste, while the bottle return scheme costs almost nothing! As long as bottles are reused, local authorities save money. The customer wins too because they save the price of the container and commit to the planet. Everyone wins. Great, right?
The principle of the bottle return scheme at Oé
Several players are involved in the process: you (the consumer), us or the retailer where you buy your returnable organic wine bottle, our collection partner or our distributor, the washing center and our bottler.
Have you seen them before? The returnable bottles in our stores have a small sticker on the edge of the label. If not, a poster indicates it in the store.
To find all our stores that offer the bottle return scheme, click here!
After purchase, all you have to do is enjoy our organic wines Oé, such as the good red Languedoc for example. You bring your returnable bottle back to the store and the store takes care of storing the bottles until one of our collection partners or our distributor comes to pick them up. When volumes are large enough, they are then sent to a washing center at a return scheme partner. Our goal through this operation is to cover all our territories and limit transport.
BLOCK_PRODUCT:le-languedoc
Regarding the washing process of returnable bottles, the bottles are washed at 73° for about twenty minutes with a mixture of water and soda to properly remove the labels. They are then blown and passed through the inspection machine to make sure no water or glue remains. Had you noticed? If our bottles have pretty cut-out birds on the sides, it is so that the label peels off better. Nice anecdote, right?
Once washed, the glass bottles are ready to use again and return to our bottler 40 km from Lyon or are left in the region if they find outlets for a new use. We minimize transport, hence our desire to encourage the local reuse of wine bottles once washed. When our partners do not find local outlets, we buy them back up to twice as much as a new bottle so that they return to our bottler near Lyon. You see, the principle of the bottle return scheme relies on many players, each representing a link in a chain that is just as important as the others.
Want to know more about this technique? We tell you more here, the bottle return scheme will soon have no more secrets for you!
The bottle return scheme for one year: where are we?
We work with many partners to develop the bottle return scheme throughout France. We have therefore surrounded ourselves with retailers, return scheme partners, distributors and washing centers in different regions.
The stores that offer the bottle return scheme
We started by collaborating with about thirty grocery stores, caterers and restaurants committed in Lyon and we wanted to extend the bottle return scheme to Paris. One year later, we have developed our activity in Lyon, the capital and in many French regions. Today, more than 1⁄3 of our points of sale offer the bottle return scheme. A great victory, isn't it?
Our ultimate goal is twofold: that all our marketed bottles are returnable and that the glass of our bottles comes from reuse. The road is long and just as Rome was not built in a day, we continue to persevere and work day by day to promote the bottle return scheme in France. When we look at the path traveled in one year, we are proud!
Our returnable bottle collection and washing partners
We have surrounded ourselves with regional partners throughout France for the collection and washing of our returnable wine bottles.
Since the launch of the bottle return scheme, we have been working with:
- Rebooteille in Greater Lyon and its surroundings,
- My bottle is called come backin the Drôme and Ardèche,
- Bout’ à Bout’ in Nantes and Rennes.
- Consign’up in the Toulouse region,
- Oc’Consignein Occitanie,
- The Bordeaux Bottle Return Scheme in Bordeaux,
- Les Retournées in the south of Aquitaine,
- L’Attache Rapide in Dordogne,
- The Provence Bottle Return Schemein Provence,
- Uzaje in Paris and Lille.
Recently, Alpes Consigne in the Annecy region and Haut la consigne for the Hauts de France who joined us. My bottle is called come back, Uzaje and Bout’ à Bout’ have an in-house washing center, the other partners bring their bottles to a washing center with whom they collaborate. This process is long to set up, you have to wait until our stored bottles are numerous enough to be brought for washing. And yes, at Oé we minimize our travel and our carbon footprint as much as possible. Our project is taking off more and more. Today, more than 2000 bottles have been collected and washed by Rebooteille, our Lyon partner.
Even more efforts for the bottle return scheme
The team puts a lot of heart into developing the bottle return scheme. We listen to the recommendations and suggestions of our partners to improve our concept. We use a heavier bottle in a format that suits all washing centers compared to a standard model. The reason behind this choice? The heavier bottles are also stronger and last longer, sometimes even up to 50 washes. The challenge is to use bottles that can be reused several times and shared across territories with other producers. Every action is consistent 360°.
For one year, we have noticed that more and more people are sensitive to the bottle return scheme. And that makes us happy! When we decided to bring the bottle return scheme back into fashion, our wish was to encourage initiatives in all other areas of food, to make consumers rediscover it and encourage as many people as possible to choose an ethical and responsible mode of consumption. So thank you to you who read us, customers and partners, who follow us in this beautiful project for now more than a year. We count on you to talk about all the beautiful initiatives you see blooming around you, and not hesitate to write to us at hello@oeforgood.com to advise us of points of sale near you that would like to offer returnable organic wines.
