The wine industry in South Africa could benefit from a glass waste solution that can reduce costs and improve sustainability. Glass doesn’t get recycled as much as people think and thousands of pounds of glass is transported with a significant impact from a carbon standpoint. You don’t have to move the product any great distance to a recycling facility or unfortunately in many instances a landfill to render the process financially and environmentally pointless. It also makes little sense for many sites when sand is the second most consumed resource in the world, second to only water.

Expleco (Explore Eco) was founded in 2009 in New Zealand. The company mission was to develop sustainable solutions. Co-Founders Tim & Geoff Barnett have always viewed sustainability as a balance between Environment and Economy. Often in our journey we have been confronted by idealistic solutions or processes that fail due to financial limitations or in some cases, blanket solutions that are not easily replicated between one geographic location to the next. The result of such failures is often financially catastrophic, and the environmental outcome is often worse than doing nothing at all.

“Our approach to sustainability is a balance between economic and environmental outcomes. If a solution puts financial pressure on an operator, the environmental outcome is often far worse.” – Tim Barnett

Expleco glass bottle crushers are helping wineries, particularly in remote locations to reduce glass waste on site with minimal dependency on waste collection and transport. The equipment is being used by the likes of Loxton Cellars(USA), Craggy Range (NZ), Cedar Creek (Canada), One Day Estate (Australia) and Spier Wine Farm (South Africa) to name a few. Expleco today exports to more than 120 countries, providing glass waste solutions to a wide range of glass waste generating clientele, offering both single feed and larger capacity conveyor fed plants. The company is fortunate to work with some of the most recogniseable and sustainability minded brands in the world.

The glass to sand process is simple. In just a few questions Expleco will be able to assess volume reduction, cost savings and any upside that can be achieved from using the sand on site. In almost every instance there is a compelling environmental and economic argument to look worth consideration. Contact [email protected] or visit www.expleco.com