Libbey and Rebottled have marked the one year anniversary of their partnership creating sustainable glassware ranges from used wine bottles.

Libbey Holland, part of the Libbey group and one of the largest glassware tableware manufacturers in the world, has been working with Rebottled, a circular start-up that creates sustainable glassware for the past 12 months.

This has led to 81,000 used wine bottles being repurposed and transformed into sustainable drinking glasses and Libbey also worked with Rebottled to produce a new products including a whisky tumbler range.

Founded in 2016 by Jermain van der Graaf during his time as an economics student, Rebottled was inspired by the realisation that Dutch shoppers pay a deposit on empty beer bottles, while wine bottles are for single use only.

Despite a difficult year, Libbey has continued to invest in meaningful partnerships, follow commitments and improve its services, all while rediscovering innovation processes. The glassware manufacturer also continues to produce high-quality glassware and support local communities in a way that carefully considers the environment.

Rebottled has also been affected by the pandemic and the closure of many of the catering collecting points, but has had the opportunity to focus on its B2B and e-commerce functions, expanding to Belgium and Germany and rolling out new products.

“It is an amazing experience to develop and bring new life to used products such as wine bottles; it is motivating and brings energy to all of us at the factory in Holland,” says Marco van Valburg, VP Engineering Libbey EMEA.

“In the production process, the pre-cleaned bottles are cut at the required capacity by a high-power laser. To give them a flawless and smooth rim, safe for consumer use, the glasses are fire polished. After this process, what used to be a bottle of wine is now a trendy drink glass.”

For more information on the collaboration visit www.libbey.eu