"Saving the planet, one glass at a time."

I don't know why I didn't see this sooner. Maybe because I'm not much of a drinker? I have maybe one drink a month... and the hubby, when he drinks, usually drinks beer. We were in the store the other day - he wanted beer - when we saw this bottle with recycling symbols on it. Of course, this caught my attention, and his, too, so we checked it out, and decided to give it a try.

So, here are the eco-friendly details. The labels and the tag hanging from the neck on the Vodka 360 bottles are made with 100% post-consumer waste paper, processed chlorine free. The glass bottle is made with 85% recycled glass, 70% of that being post-consumer. The tag that hangs from the neck of the bottle is actually a pre-paid envelope. For what? To remove the swingtop from the bottle and mail it back to 360 Vodka. For every top returned, they donate $1.00 to environmental causes.

Good so far, right? There's more! The process used to create the vodka is highly energy efficient, with nothing going to waste. The label on the back of the bottle details "360 Vodka Environmental Benefits Statement," which says, "Earth Friendly Distilling Co. saved he following resources in the production of 360 Vodka's labels: 113 fully grown trees, 48,371 gallons of water, 81 million BTUs of energy, 5409 pounds of solid waste, 18,550 pounds of greenhouse gasses, 9222 miles of average driving in a U.S. car, and 0.8 years of average home electricity use." The vodka is quadruple distilled through a process that the company says "reduces the use of fossil fuel energy by 21%," and is five times filtered.

The company itself is also taking steps to help the environment. Among these are double sided printing, recycling of all supplies which are recyclable (they even have their own recycling center), eliminating paper towels and polystyrene (plastic/styrofoam) untensils and cups, and even reusing plastic bags from received shipments as garbage bags. They have also purchased renewable energy certificates to offset their electricity and natural gas consumption.

If you haven't already left me to go Google the company, you can see their website here. As well as more information on the company and the product, the site includes desktop wallpapers, videos on the product, locations to buy the product, and even recipes with names like "Mother Earth," "Father Earth," "Apple Tree Hugger," and "Ecotini." There is a guide to going green, titled "The little green book," in the Downloads section that is beautifully laid out and includes some of the recipes. On the bottom of the site are rotating "Eco-Factoids," such as "36 recycled newspapers save an entire tree."

One thing I forgot to mention... the cost. Believe it or not, it was about the same price as another, non-eco brand. I haven't tried it yet, I was too busy taking the pictures When we open the bottle, I will update and let you all know how it is!