Empty bottle scheme is back

A COMMUNITY-OWNED soft drink company in the East End is aiming to bring back a huge childhood favourite – the empty ginger bottle.

The famous “glass cheque” is back after the firm won a business development support grant worth £2700 from Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEIS).

Bottle of Ginger, in Bridgeton, will use the money to launch a zero-waste ginger beer, which will be sold in bottles that are distributed and then collected by electric bikes to be washed and re-filled.

The re-use of glass bottles for soft drinks was pioneered by AG Barr which, until 2015, offered a small sum, rising to 30p, to customers returning empty bottles to their local shop.

The move became known as a ‘glass cheque’. Bottle of Ginger hopes to challenge the mainstream soft drinks industry by using locally-sourced, organic ingredients which are naturally fermented.

The team also plans to breathe new life into the East End by reinvesting profits into its own employability programmes and local projects tackling sugar consumption and food and drink inequalities.

Natalia Jejer, founder and managing director of the women-led enterprise, described the move as “exciting”.

She said: “Our zero waste, circular model is a nostalgic call-back to deposit return schemes of the past and is central to the ethos of our company.”