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The Environment

At LJ Crafted Wines we’re taken the greener path by introducing an efficient and earth-friendly way to consume wine that you can feel good about.

We have created a way for the wine industry to be more environmentally friendly. Our patented technology enables us to serve our wines direct from the barrel into reusable growlers. This process avoids the high energy production & disposal required for traditional single-use wine bottles.

LJ Crafted Wines prides itself in offering wines with a lighter carbon footprint, and at the same time, supporting a zero-waste lifestyle.

Selling wine and not packaging is our modus operandi.

With wine growlers clearly making environmental sense plus being readily accepted by their clientele, LJ Crafted Wines decided in September 2017 to only offer wines via the wine growler program so establishing itself as a “wine filling-station”.

Background image showing various bottles of wine in a jumble. Text: Utilizing our patented device and thanks to community support, our zero-waste concept of serving wines direct from the barrel into re-useable growlers has saved over 127,000 single-use bottles from production & disposal.

Did you know?

It takes one glass bottle about 1 million years to decompose. (1)
Glass represents anywhere from 50% of a winery’s carbon footprint. (2)
While there are more than 300 million cases of wine sold in the U.S. each year, virtually none of those bottles are reused. (3)
Glass bottles have low recycling rates at 34.1%. Two out of every three bottles end up in landfills. (4)
Recycling of glass containers saves some energy, but not a significant quantity compared to reuse. The energy saved is about 13% of the energy required to make glass containers from virgin raw materials. (5)
A bottle that is filled 20 times eliminates the need for making 19 more bottles, avoiding the environmental effects of materials extraction, processing, manufacturing, and recycling or disposal of those 19 bottles. (6)
The process of washing a wine bottle for reuse generates less than 5% of the carbon emissions created in the new production of that same bottle. (7)

Recognition from Surfrider Foundation USA

On Friday, January 19th 2018, the San Diego County Chapter of Surfrider Foundation welcomed LJ Crafted Wines as their first fully registered Platinum Level Ocean Friendly Restaurant (OFR) in San Diego. The goals of the OFR program are to help reduce plastic waste, eliminate the use of expanded polystyrene (EPS), and to encourage more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices in the food and wine industry. Restaurants that meet all 10 program criteria gain Platinum Level recognition for their commitment to the environment.

LJ Crafted Wines is proud of their association with Surfrider Foundation, a grassroots non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the ocean, waves and beaches.

Lowell and Anne Jooste standing in front of a sign indicating "Platinum Level Ocean Friendly Restaurant" recognition from Surfrider Foundation USA.

The Case for Reuse

We realize that we can’t solve all the world’s environmental issues, but we’re doing our part to to minimize the resource-intensive use of glass bottles. There was a time when bottle reuse was common practice. 6.5-ounce soda pop bottles were once refillable products that framed an iconic era, and milk bottles were ceremoniously collected empty, then as if by magic, redelivered full. We’ve borrowed a page from these bygone times to revisit a contemporary and sustainable packaging alternative to wine consumption. We know the routine use of sanitizing and refilling a bottle is far more energy and resource efficient than that of single use bottles, even when recycled. Reduce, reuse, refill!

Additional Benefits Of Our Wine Growler Program:

Reusable bottles are cost-competitive. We pass that savings on to you, our customers.
Glass containers provides a protective and oxygen-free environment, something that many other packaging solutions and single-serve containers fall short of.
We use lightweight, durable bottles using less raw materials for greater environmental benefits.
Wines served direct from the barrel often taste better.