Moving to the Ibizan countryside, one becomes acutely aware of resources, their use and their abuse. Water for example; water source, water quality, the water table of the island, lack of water.
And waste; where does it come from and where does it go?, how do we reduce it?, how do we avoid it in the first place?…
We did not and do not want to contribute more waste to the island through what we do…..I mean, recycling, though it’s better than not recycling, is still creating refuse that needs to be processed before it can be reused. So, we decided to revive an ‘oldy but a goody’ and charge jar and bottle deposits along with our products.
This system worked in the past, there is no reason why it shouldn’t work now.
Remember the old milk floats of England? Whatever happened to them? returnable glass bottles of milk on the doorstep. The empties collected and replaced by the full.
I mean, goodness me, even the floats were electric!
And Glass; What an incredible resource! melted sand that’s been chemically transformed.
It’s in our windows and doors, our windscreens, our food and drinks come in it….it has so many applications that we tend to look straight through it!
It is a resource that takes energy to make it, and energy to recycle it, but being such a resilient material and easy to sterilise, why oh why would we be wasting that energy?
Our aim to reduce needless production, by reusing perfectly good bottles and jars has admittedly cost us some business along the way; shops that find it too complicated, customers that don’t want to pay that extra cost or have the ‘hassle’ of taking their container back.
For us though, this is an ethical stance, one that we hoped, (and still hope) would motivate others to do the same. It may be a small step, but it’s a step nonetheless….to encourage conscious buying and utilisation of materials, to bring awareness to our waste, and how each positive contribution, no matter how small, all adds to the greater picture….there is no time to waste!
For those customers, shops, bars and restaurants that encourage and support this initiative, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your efforts and collaboration....together we can shift the narrative and make a difference, no matter how small.
Back at the 'Fermentista Ranch', our homestead, small holding, slice of paradise, we found a different use for bottles. We saved all of the empties from different bar events we've done over the years to use as a building material.. The entrance of our home looked rather like a recycling factory for a good couple of years...but it was worth it in the end.
We utilised most of the bottles to make a sitting bench in our garden, it is still a work in progress, yet we are super happy with the results so far and the durability and aesthetics of the material....good ol' glass!
