Refresh Glass diverts thousands of wine bottles from the landfills every week with the help of our local collection partners. What began as an effort to combine passions for art and engineering has turned into a community effort to support a great cause. Our hope is that you can enjoy the glass function and aesthetic while taking pride in the part that you play; because we would re-purpose 0 bottles without you!
This is how all the empty bottles get to us. Ray started picking up bottles in the back of his 4 Runner in 2008. After a few blown wheel bearings and shocks we graduated to this beauty! We are trying to decide if we want to paint the wheels gold or get a set of spinners..... thoughts!?
How it all gets done a few bottles at a time and a lot of hard work.
We stock 7 different colors in the form of bottles and finished inventory so we can be responsive to orders that you want plain or engraved, packed for retail or bulk.
Wine bottles come in many shapes and sizes between the height, diameter, thickness, and punt height. That's why every mixed color 4 pack will always be totally unique. We are the opposite of a boring mass produced manufacturer.
We used to wash the insides of the bottles by hand. Now we have bottle washer. So much better now.
We do still have to take the labels off one at a time. This is part of what really separates us from the crowd. So many companies selling wine bottle products are buying brand new bottles and hiding behind deceptive words like repurposed or upcycled on their labels and in their marketing. It takes us a lot of extra time and effort to collect, rinse, and delabel diverted bottles. In the internet age of increased transparency we will see over time how the public reacts. For us it's the difference between a commodity and a piece of art; there is something about the process, the story, and the mission behind it all.
We melt the rims of the glassware and other items up to a temperature of about 1500 degrees F. The rounded edge glows an and looks a vibrant orange color, similar to the center of a campfire, for a few seconds after being removed from the torch flames.
The final process before they are washed and sent to you is a stress relieving oven bake. Then your products are cleaned, and possibly engraved with your text or logo. We can also drop ship directly to the recipient if you would like. Please contact us if you have any ordering questions. We can ship a single candle all the way up to multiple pallets. We would love to hear from you thirsty people. =).
Raise your hand if you can hear clinking and glass breaking when your bins get picked up. We are like Santa Claus of wine, we know if you have been bad or good. We know that bin came from your place.