Germany should drink longneck. The 0.33 litre returnable glass bottle with the long neck will be the first model for a regulated returnable bottle pool. Four large German breweries want to use it to promote the reusable cycle.
An important task for the future of the beverage industry is to stabilise and promote the sustainable reusable cycle in Germany. The joint initiative of the four major national brewers Bitburger Brewery Group, Krombacher Brewery, Radeberger Group and Warsteiner Group is firmly committed to this goal.
Breweries found new reusable company
To this end, the four brewery groups will soon jointly establish an independent company that will initially set up and control a new, regulated pool for the 0.33 litre returnable Longneck glass bottle. This company, GeMeMa Gesellschaft für Mehrwegmanagement GmbH & Co. KG, will be based in Düsseldorf and will be managed independently and market-neutrally by the reusable cycle expert Hans Baxmeier as Managing Director. It is currently planned that GeMeMa will commence operations in September, subject to a final antitrust review.
"The founding of GeMeMa is an important signal in and for the entire beverage industry. Right from the start, we emphasise that this bottle pool will be open to all beverage producers. We want to take a big step together to significantly strengthen our sustainable reusable system"
Hans Baxmeier
Binding rules for quality assurance
The initiators of the company have agreed on common, binding rules for participation in the bottle pool. The most important task of GeMeMa will be to ensure and continuously monitor the high quality standards of the bottle pool. This will be done neutrally and independently.
Participation in the initiative requires a commitment to the strict pool maintenance rules defined by the company. In particular, the focus here is on clear rules for the introduction and rejection of bottles. In addition, existing 0.33 litre longneck returnable glass bottles on the market can continue to be used in parallel with the new pool in the future. The aim is to make the transition from an unregulated to a regulated pool as smooth and resource-efficient as possible for all companies from the entire beverage industry that are interested in participating.
More reusable containers to follow
The initiators of the company made a conscious decision to start with a new, regulated pool for the 0.33 litre longneck returnable glass bottle. Once the pool for 0.33 litre longneck bottles has been successfully established, it is quite conceivable that the pool concept could be extended to other returnable containers.
Source: Krombacher Brauerei Bernhard Schadeberg GmbH & Co. KG
