Bottle wash. Saving bottles from going to waste.

How we’ve helped

When glass drink bottles are being moved about, they can sometimes get damaged. One bottle in a case of twelve might get broken by a forklift or a bottle might get separated from a multi-pack. Whatever the cause, lots of perfectly good products can go to waste.

Redistributing these products can be difficult, especially in the beer, wine and spirit category (often known as BWS). So, to help reduce this waste, we invested in a new inline bottle washing plant. It deals with these products in a safe, environmental way, removing any broken glass and washing away sticky residues, so bottles can be safely redistributed.

It replaced laborious manual processes and dramatically increased our capacity. In fact, we sorted and washed more than 3m bottles in 2021, saving a huge number of products and providing a substantial financial return for the businesses we worked with.

Working with Company Shop Group allows Asda to divert no longer saleable but still consumable bottles and cans of beers, wines, spirits and soft drinks that otherwise would have gone to waste. There are many reasons why these items become un-saleable. For example a damaged item in a pack, split outer packaging or where the selling barcode is on the case or the barcode is no longer readable. This collaboration has been possible through Company Shop Group’s investment in an inline bottle washer which has provided the much needed capacity for a sustainable solution. They are able to sort and wash for redistribution. This partnership ensures that we reduce our environmental impact while receiving a commercial return. January 2020.

Karen Todd, Senior Manager, Zero Waste Sustainable Business, Asda.

Bottle wash. Saving bottles from going to waste.

You may also like...

Seasonal surplus tastes good all year round.