Growlers! Yum!

NRDC Evaluates Beer Containers: Growlers Win

An $8-ish investment in a growler is one of the best recommendations I can make for any beer drinker with an eco-conscience: it will mean you can fill up with some pretty delicious beer, and it will reduce the carbon footprint of your drinking habits by at least a room full of light bulbs every time.


The production of six aluminum cans (for any beer snobs out there, don't be thinking you shouldn't bother with cans—great beer can come in a can) consumes the same amount of energy that is used to power a 50-watt light bulb. (Less so when cans are made from recycled aluminum rather than virgin materials—bauxite mining is an environmentally-destructive and energy-intensive process, but it's hard to know which you're getting when you're at the store.)


Even less energy-intensive, however, is the option that can be reused rather than recycled. NRDC says: "Using a growler means you won't need to purchase more bottles or cans, which don't have be manufactured and won't need to melted back for reuse. If growlers are unavailable, choose a keg if there are enough people around to drain the tap."


Growlers are gaining popularity by the day, it seems, so it should be easier to find them for purchase even if you don't live near a store like Bierkraft. Once you have one, if you do live near a store like Bierkraft, you can fill up there, but you can also try your favorite bars, which will often fill up straight from the tap. Bonus: growlers will save you some cash, too.


If you must go with individual servings, opt for cans or glass bottles over brown plastic bottles, which are the least recyclable and are the most polluting to produce in the first place.


Bottom line, again from NRDC: "Whichever option you choose, be sure to reuse whenever possible and when reuse isn't an option, always recycle." Words to live by with all products we use—not just beer.

Just finished a growler of...

Worth keeping the growler in spite of the $1.50 bottle deposit. Have to pick up another one for next weekend.