UnderwoodGoFixIt

How to Make Parties Less Wasteful (for the Trash Bag at Least)

Parties are a main staple of the college lifestyle. Every weekend, they are the activity of choice for most students. Everyone just wants to go out and blow off some steam, and hang out with their friends. But is this method of blowing off steam heating up the Earth?

A major player at parties is beer. Most of that beer is usually the cheapest available, because of the bulk quantities necessary for a party. But this cheap beer has more effects than just leaving a little extra cash in your wallet. “Conventional brewers like Anheuser Busch and Coors Brewing Company are less than ideal for a number of reasons-first, the crops from which they get their primary ingredients (barley and hops) are massive (they are massive companies after all, with massive demand to meet) and they use toxic pesticides on all of them. Now, they're of course using EPA approved pesticides (we hope), but small, toxic traces nonetheless remain in the ingredients right up until. Also, pesticides can find their way into habitats surrounding the crops and cause damage to the local animal life. According to the American Bird Conservancy, ‘approximately 670 million birds are exposed to the pesticides used in farming annually, and 10 percent of these birds die as a result.’ Additionally, their factories and worldwide shipping efforts are far from sustainable. In other words, stick to local breweries and craft breweries, and you'll be supporting the green guys” (“Top Green Beer Drinking Tips” 2009). So buying from small breweries instead will already make a big difference on the impact of your party, but how you buy that beer can also make a big difference. New Belgium Brewing Company decided to calculate the carbon footprint of one of their six packs, and “when the numbers came in …, they showed that a six-pack's carbon footprint was about seven pounds. The real surprise was where the bulk of that number came from: the refrigeration of the beer at stores. Transportation came in fourth, behind manufacturing the glass bottles and producing the barley and malt” (Ball 2009). Most refridgeration for beer at stores is open-front, allowing you to reach right in and pull out your favorite beer with minimal effort. However, this method of refridgeration also allows the cold air to easily and constantly escape, requiring much more energy to keep the beer cold. So instead, buy beer from stores with glass doors on their refrigeration units, or ones that don’t refrigerate their beer (you can just stick it in your own fridge at home before you drink it, which is much more efficient). Or, you could even buy straight from the brewery. What container you buy your beer in also makes a difference. For example, "recycling glass" is easier and more environmentally friendly than aluminum” (Merchant 2008). It takes less energy, and "1 ton of recycled glass saves 1,300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash and 380 pounds of limestone" (“Top Green Beer Drinking Tips” 2009). Glass can be recycled almost infinitely, unlike some other containers (like plastic). If you’re buying bottles, try to go for ones without paper labels. “Each one of those bottles typically has not one, but two paper labels (one around the body, one around the neck) slapped on it. So next to that pile of bottles imagine what the paper stripped off each would look like. And this is paper that doesn't get recycled—even if we wanted to, it gets wet, soggy, shredded and largely unrecyclable. What ends up happening is the paper is burned off in the recycling process, creating loads of unnecessary emissions. So go paperless” (“Top Green Beer Drinking Tips” 2009). Instead, buy bottles that are stamped, or made in molds that put the writing in the glass itself. The best way to buy beer though, is not in individual bottles. “Draught beer, due to its “bulk” packaging has lower impacts with an estimated overall environmental load that was 68% lower than bottled beer” (Watson 2008). When you think draught beer, you usually think of kegs, which would technically be the most environmentally friendly option. However, kegs also come with a lot of legal tape, so you may not want them. Try growlers instead. You can buy one at your local brewery, then when you’re done, bring it back and they’ll refill it for a reduced price. This even cuts out the energy necessary for recycling, because you just reuse the growler again and again.

But what if you don’t drink beer? If you’re a wine drinker, you may be in luck. Wine seems to be getting a lot more attention in the organic arena than beer, and there is also a big trend in biodynamic vineyards (meaning they grow grapes the way nature intended, with other plants, and use animals to eat weeds instead of using nasty pesticides). But there’s a lot more to buying eco-friendly wine than just buying something labeled organic or biodynamic. “Regarding the “food miles” debate, we find that distance does matter. But not all miles that a bottle travels are the same. Efficiencies in transportation make container ships better than trucks, which in turn are better than planes” (Dr. Vino 2007). In fact, there’s a line that runs down the middle of our country (starting in Ohio), where west of that line, it’s more energy efficient to drink wine trucked from California, but east of that line, it’s actually more energy efficient to drink wine that came over on a boat from Europe (here’s a link: []). Like beer, it also makes a difference what sort of packaging you buy the wine in. “Shipping premium wine, bottled at the winery, around the world mostly involves shipping glass with some wine in it. In this regard, drinking wine from a magnum is the more carbon-friendly choice since the glass-to-wine ratio is less. Half-bottles, by contrast, worsen the ratio. Shipping wine in bulk from the source and bottling closer to the point of consumption lowers carbon intensity” (Dr. Vino 2007). You also have the option of boxed wine, which is a lot lighter than glass bottles. For example, Jackson-Trigg distributes what they call SlimCasks. “3L SlimCasks are equal to 4x750mL glass bottles, so there is less material used. It takes 11 trucks to carry the same number of empty bottles as 1 truck of flattened 3L SlimCasks to our winery. That represents an 11-fold reduction in fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions to ship the 3L SlimCasks. There is less potential for breakage both in-store and at home. Less energy is used to produce the cardboard and oxygen-proof inner bag than with the production of glass” (Alter, 2008). With boxed wine, there is some waste though, as the box can be recycled, but the plastic bag inside cannot. Really, the best thing you can do with wine is to buy local, and in the bulk option they have, with the least packaging per amount of wine.

Of course, no party would be complete without a few mixed drinks. But there are some problems associated with the production of these liquors. “In India, for example, approximately 40 million m3 of distillery spentwash are discharged annually from 285 distilleries. The distillery spentwash is acidic (pH<4.0) and is generally characterized by high levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nutrient elements such as nitrogen (N) and potassium (K). It is used as a source of plant nutrients and organic matter for various agricultural crops, particularly, under dryland conditions. However, indiscriminate disposal of this wastewater has resulted in adverse impact on soil and environmental health” (Mahimairaja and Bolan 2009). The distilleries that send their wastes to be used in agriculture are at least trying—some distilleries just dump their wastes straight in the river—but only so much distillery waste can be used in one area before it starts to contaminate the groundwater and add too much salt to the soil. In Scotland, for example, “the whisky industry, which last week was trying to wriggle out of new environmental regulations on water, has been outed as a major source of water pollution. Fish have been killed, streams poisoned and coastlines contaminated by toxic discharges from distilleries” (Edwards 2001). Disturbingly, some of these “distilling wastes include copper, high-strength organic discharges, heated water and oil” (Edwards 2001). These “are known to oxidise haemoglobin (Bukowska and Kowalska 2003) and provoke haemolysis of the cell” (Sharma, Sharma, Singh, Soni, Sharma, Sharma, and Sharma 2007). On a study with mice, “distillery soil leachate exposure also adversely affected shapes of red blood corpuscles. Percentage of morphologically abnormal red blood corpuscles (Poikilocytosis) was maximum (11%–67%) during sub-chronic exposure (30 days) at 5% concentration, which is followed by acute treated animals at 20% concentration, while they were very few in control group” (Sharma, Sharma, Singh, Soni, Sharma, Sharma, and Sharma 2007). If it has this effect on mice, it can also have this effect on other mammals, including humans. So what can you do? One option is to buy organic alcohol, from distilleries that don’t use nasty chemicals. Another thing is to buy from small distilleries, which can more easily take proper care of their waste, since there’s a lot less of it. Proper disposal of distillery waste is basically composting, since most of their waste is plant material. As long as it’s composted properly, it’s like any other soil, although usually with a higher salt concentration. It’s also best to buy local (like with wine and beer, what a surprise!) There may not actually be a local distillery near you, since they are less common than breweries, so if this is the case, try to buy American, which is the closest thing to local. For example, you should buy whiskey (with an e), rather than whisky, because “Whisky (without the "e") refers exclusively to the distilled beverages that come from Scotland, Canada, and Japan, [whereas] Whiskey (with the "e") refers to the beverages from Ireland, Wales, India, America, and elsewhere (like France and Germany)” (“Details on Making Alcohol and Green Cocktails” 2009). So buy whiskey, from America. “American whiskies are broken down a bit further: the most common types are Bourbon whiskey, which must be made of at least 51 percent corn; Rye whiskey, which must be made of at least 51 percent rye; and Corn whiskey, which must be made from a mash of at least 80 percent corn” (“Details on Making Alcohol and Green Cocktails” 2009). So don’t buy bourbon or corn whiskey, because corn is a resource intensive crop. Buy a whiskey made from something else instead.

But no mixed drink would be complete without mixers. These mixers are usually juice, or something syrupy, like soda. Orange juice is one of the most common juice mixers. “Brazil alone is responsible for 80% of world’s exports of frozen concentrated orange juice (1 ton = US $1000 in December 1996)…At the demand side, USA, with 49% (1078 ton) and Europe, with 37% (814 ton) are the major importers. Japan (5%, 110 ton) is the third market” (Neves, Zylbersztajn, and Neves 1998). This requires a lot of transportation. Syrupy drinks, like soda, are usually made with high fructose corn syrup, which we’ve already talked about a lot in this class, so I won’t get into too much detail. So instead of using these classic mixers, “think seasonal. Try to choose cocktails to fit in with your locale, and local, seasonal offerings. Take advantage of local fresh fruit juices and herbs in your summer drinks. Rather than make a traditional Screwdriver with orange juice, try a recipe that highlights a fruit that grows in your area such as grape or raspberry. In the winter time use fresh cranberries or mull some apple cider” (“Top Green Cocktails Tips” 2009). If you’re using garnish, you should also think about what you use for that. “Instead of an olive or lemon peel [use] fresh fruit such as raspberries and blueberries in the summer and cranberries in the fall and winter look beautiful floating in a cocktail glass” (“Top Green Cocktails Tips” 2009). And skip those store bought mixers. “Making your own cocktails from scratch ensures that you know that the freshest, healthiest ingredients have gone into them, without preservatives or chemicals. Using fresh juice leaves you with pulp and skin to compost. Using mixes leaves you with unnecessary packaging to dispose of” (“Top Green Cocktails Tips” 2009).

Finally, don’t forget about what you serve those drinks in. Parties are usually full of throw away cups, as they’re the easiest to clean up after. But is this added convenience really worth all the waste? Try using reusable glasses instead. If it’s a small party, it will only take a couple minutes to wash them anyway. If you absolutely must use throw away cups though, stay away from the traditional Solo cups. Solo cups are made of plastic #7, which is the “other” category of plastics. Most recyclers don’t accept #7 plastic because it is hard to recycle (Green Living Tips 2009). In fact, “most—even those made from recycled plastic—are unrecyclable, meaning they head to the landfill when they're emptied of their sudsy cargo” (“Top Green Beer Drinking Tips” 2009). Instead, go for cups that are made of either #1 or #2 plastic, which is much more easily recycled.

Basically, throwing an eco-friendly party is easy, as long as you think about what you’re buying for it. The rules for all the ingredients boil down to the same basic principles: buy local, buy from small places that try to have sustainable practices, and buy in bulk, with the least packaging, and with packaging that is easily recyclable. If you do this, you may not even need a trash can at your party! And of course, it’s always better to reuse than to recycle.

Links:

Green Breweries: [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

Support your local brewery []

Buddhist Temple Built from Beer Bottles (super cool example of using bottles) []

Organic Liquors: [] [] [] [] [] [] []

Find "green" alcohol near you: [] [] []

Organizations dedicated to sustainable wine (some of them to other sustainable foods too!) [] [] [] [] [] [] []

what to do with wine corks? let them get made into flooring! []

Organic and/or Fair Trade Wines: [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

find "green" wine near you: [] [] [] []

Works Cited  Alter, Lloyd. “Which is Greener, Wine or Box? Depends on the Box.” Treehugger. August 23, 2008. Discovery Communications, LLC. 2010. []

Ball, Jeffrey. “Six Products, Six Carbon Footprints.” Wall Street Journal. March 1, 2009. Dow Jones and Inc. 2010. []

Colman, Tyler. “Calculating the carbon footprint of wine: my research findings.” Dr. Vino: wine talk that goes down easy. October 30, 2007. Dr. Vino 2010. []

“Details on Making Alcohol and Green Cocktails.” Planet Green. Discovery Communications, LLC. 2009. []

Edwards, Rob. “Scottish whisky industry is blamed for water pollution.” Sunday Herald (Glasgow, Scotland). May 6, 2001. Page 2. []

Mahimairaja, Santiago, and Nanthi S. Bolan. “Problems and prospects of agricultural use of distillery spentwash in India.” Journal of Ecotoxicology and Environmental Monitoring. Volume 19, number 4 page 375-382. July 2009.

Merchant, Brian. “Buy Green: East Coast Beer.” Planet Green. November 17, 2008. Discovery Communications, LLC. 2009. []

Neves, Marcos Fava, Decio Zylbersztajn, and Evaristo Marzabal Neves. “The Orange Juice Food Chain.” Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Chain Management in Agribusiness and the Food Industry, Wageningen Agricultural University, Netherlands, May 1998, p 437-447. []

“Recycling by the Numbers.” Green Living Tips. 8/1/2009. Green Living Tips. 2010. []

Sharma, Subhasini, Arti Sharma, Pawan Kumar Singh, Pratima Soni, Shweta Sharma, Pradeep Sharma, and K.P. Sharma. “Impact of Distillery Soil Leachate on Haematology of Swiss Albino Mice (Mus musculus).” Bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology. 2007. Volume 79, issue 3. Page 273-277. []

“Top Green Beer Drinking Tips.” Planet Green. Discovery Communications, LLC. 2009. []

“Top Green Cocktails Tips.” Planet Green. Discovery Communications, LLC. 2009. []

Watson, Jenna. “Draught Beer Beats Bottled in Life Cycle Assessment.” Treehugger. July 18, 2008. Discovery Communications, LLC. 2010. [|http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/lca-draugh]

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