HIK! Glasses from Reclaimed Beer Bottles
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona on 04. 3.08
The Finnish family business Lasistudio reclaims glass bottles and jars without crushing them in order to create new objects. All the products are hand-made in an old barn in Finland. By taking advantage of the original shapes of the waste packages, only 1/4 of the energy needed to shape new objects from melted glass is used, says Jan Torstensson Oy, glassworks specialized in manufacturing items from recycled packaging glass.
Our favourite are the HIK! drinking glasses, made from reclaimed brown beer bottles. These even made it into the Finnish Glass Museum. HIK! glasses are available as a 2 pack or 6 pack at Matteriashop and Lasistudio for 29€ and 75€. Also available in green. Via: Matteria ::Lasistudio
This is kind of a sad waste of bottles. A decent beer bottle could be reused for holding beer dozens of times over - eliminating the need to make dozens of new beer bottle each time. Reusing should always be prioritized over recycling - though we are sadly far, far behind in this area compared to other parts of the world.
This kind of stuff is great... or rather it would be great if it weren't so bloody expensive.
I love it! I live in a community in Texas that refuses (despite pleas from environmental groups) to recycle glass. I could see producing something like this here. We are a major spring break destination and have plenty of beer bottles to go around. Great idea!
Vermont Country Store sells a kit to do the same thing with wine or beer bottles if anyone wants to make their own.
Great idea but I would have hundreds of glasses left from beer bottles at the end of the year and drinking from the bottle would be more eco friendly no?
If they use only ones with chipped top that would be replaced anyway I'd say: good idea. As already mentioned much too expensive.
You can buy glasses, goblets, and glasses made in the US from reclaimed wine bottles at DwellSmart. The glasses and goblets are hybrid re-use/recycle - the glass isn't broken down, it's just reshaped into a useful product.