How do I dispose of a soulbottle drinking bottle properly?
We wish all soulbottles a long and fulfilling life. That's why you can easily replace all the individual parts and ideally save your soulmate before you buy a new drinking bottle. But sometimes all repairs don't help and a soulbottle has to be thrown away with a heavy heart. We asked ourselves what happens to the individual parts? How can we ensure that the materials are reused in the circular economy? To do this, they have to be disposed of properly and you can find out how to do this here.
sustainable from start to finish
When they founded soulbottles, Georg and Paul had one goal: to produce sustainable and stylish drinking bottles that encourage people to drink tap water. They quickly realized that there is a lot to consider if a product is to be completely environmentally friendly . This starts with the choice of raw materials, continues with production and ends with the question of how to dispose of a product . A plastic bottle in the ocean, for example, takes 450 years to decompose - and even then it pollutes important ecosystems in the form of microplastics.
soulbottles are made from natural raw materials such as glass , stainless steel , ceramic and natural rubber . When processing these materials, we make sure to use resources as sparingly as possible. For example, a soulbottle is made from up to 80% recycled glass and our glass supplier uses biomethane as an energy source .
Our products should not only be produced as sustainably as possible, but also be used for as long as possible. A long product lifespan helps to save resources and energy . A soulbottle can be dismantled into its individual parts in just a few steps: bottle body , lid , sealing ring and handle . This means that all parts can be replaced very easily. So before you have to part with your beloved soulmate, there is a good chance that you can easily repair it with a spare part .
we asked you
We wanted to know exactly: How long have soulbottles users had their soulmate by their side? How often have parts had to be replaced? Have parts ever had to be disposed of? Our survey showed:
Our users have owned their longest-serving soulbottle for an average of 2.31 years.
53% have never had to throw away a soulbottle.
46% have disposed of a glass soulbottle or part of it.
1% have disposed of a stainless steel soulbottle or part of it.
We also asked how exactly the parts were disposed of. This way we can calculate how big the ecological footprint of a soulbottle is after disposal. We won't give you the exact figures here, but what we will share is what exactly goes where. Because if the individual parts are disposed of correctly, they can flow back into the circular economy and continue to be used.
what goes where?
Packaging → off to the waste paper
Vitreous body → belongs in the glass recycling bin
Sealing ring → goes into the residual waste
Stainless steel handle → into the recycling bin or to the recycling center
Ceramic lid → residual waste or rubble at the recycling center
Stainless steel bottle body and stainless steel lid → into the recycling bin or to the recycling center
What is the difference between the yellow bag, the yellow bin and a recycling bin?
The yellow bag and the yellow bin are the same thing. You can use them to dispose of packaging waste made of plastic , tinplate , aluminum , composite packaging (such as beverage cartons) and mixed materials (such as bread roll bags). The costs for the yellow bag or the bin of the same color are borne by manufacturers, who thereby fulfill their obligation to ensure that their packaging ends up in the recycling system. That is why only packaging is allowed in there and not everyday items such as plastic bowls, pans or soul bottles made of stainless steel. Anyone who violates this can even be fined.
In contrast, recycling bins are organized by municipalities and take everything that is a recyclable material and not just packaging . As above, this includes plastic, tinplate, aluminum, composite packaging and mixed materials. You can also add everyday objects that are made of the same material, for example the handle of a soulbottle. You can find out whether there is a yellow bin or a recycling bin in your yard on your municipality's website. If you don't have a recycling bin, the stainless steel parts of a soulbottle have to be taken to the recycling center.
Why can't the sealing ring be thrown in the organic waste?
Our sealing rings ensure that your soulbottle is 100% leak-proof. And without any plastic or chemicals, they are made entirely of natural rubber. This also means that they are completely biodegradable . So why don't they belong in the organic waste bin? Organic waste is used to produce either biogas or organic compost, and there is a set time for this production process. To produce compost, the organic waste is usually stored for four to six weeks in an airtight room at elevated temperatures to speed up the process. However, our rubber seal takes more than six weeks to decompose and would therefore be more of a nuisance than a help. That's why it belongs in the residual waste and not in the organic waste bin.
Which glass recycling container does the soul bottle belong in?
The body of a soulbottle made of glass belongs in the recycling bin. More precisely, in the white glass , because the separation between the different colors is important for the recycling process. Apparently, there is a persistent rumor that it doesn't matter to sort glasses by color. This is because the glass containers are emptied by the same vehicle, which apparently fills white, brown and green glass together into one container. After hours of online research, I can now assure you that although everything is loaded into one vehicle, there are different chambers there to separate the colored glass shards from each other. The more often green or brown glasses are thrown in with the white glass, the more opaque the white glass becomes . So if we don't want to end up with green soul bottles at some point, we have to keep sorting our old glass by color.
but soulbottles are colorful?
Okay, okay, above I explain in some detail how important it is to only throw clear glass into the white glass container. And soulbottles have beautiful, colorful motifs on them... Do they then contaminate the recycling process? Don't worry, the color of our motifs doesn't interfere with the process. When the broken glass is melted down, the color dissolves and is filtered out. The soulbottles' glass bottle bodies can therefore be recycled into white glass without any problems.
So can all glasses go in the glass recycling container?
There is one special feature: some types of glass are treated to make them heat-resistant. They cannot be put in the glass recycling bin because they survive melting down, as they were produced specifically for this purpose. These include light bulbs and borosilicate glass, which is used to make test tubes, for example. Light bulbs belong in the general waste.
With this in mind, we wish all soulbottles users a long and intimate relationship with their soulbottle and when it does come to an end: Happy Recycling!
sources
utopia.de/ratgeber/biotonne-was-rein-darf-und-was-nicht/
Umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/2503/documents/poster_wir_tauschen_unseren_abfall.pdf
