Toward
a more sustainable wine...
Our
family lives and works on these estate vineyards, where grapes are sustainably
grown and harvested entirely by hand. We have worked in conjunction
with nature for nearly four decades in the Russian River Valley, where
our vineyards are known for producing wines of exceptional balance and
character.
Sustainability
THE
SWEETWATER PROJECT
Sweetwater Sustainable Land Co. is a domestic, value-driven, honest, sustainably-grown
appellation-oriented stelvin-finished portfolio of red wines made by a
Sonoma County family that has farmed here for nearly four decades, having
learned the old hands-on ways of the original planters of Zinfandel vines
planted in this valley as far back as 1895. Since white wines require
a great deal of refrigeration in their production, we have decided to
concentrate on red wines in order to reduce our energy requirements, and
thereby further minimize our carbon footprint.
“Green” wines, or Sustainable, Natural, Organic and Biodynamic wines, are in great demand by the trade. Witness the many issues of Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Food & Wine, Gourmet Magazine and many other publications devoting covers and huge space to the topic.
Sweetwater Sustainable Land Co. is the first wine to include “sustainable” on its front label, and is unique in this regard. All of the processes involved in its growing, winemaking and packaging are sustainable; the labels are printed with water-based inks at a plant where any wastes are handled in a creative and environmentally friendly manner. The case-boxes are made of 60% post-consumer recycled material, the highest available (or usable). The package itself is 100% recyclable. The project is completely vertically integrated in this regard.
MAKING
THE LABELS “GREEN” – JUST ONE SMALL STEP IN THE PROCESS
It’s not easy being green. Here’s how our printing vendor/partner
makes sure that their environmental footprint is as small as humanly possible:
Our printer specializes in flexographic pressure sensitive labels for the wine and spirits industries, and health and beauty. They are aware that printing has historically had some negative reputation when it comes to environmental stewardship. Since the inception of their printing capabilities, they have taken many steps to ensure that they are an industry leader with regards to protecting the environment. The following describes the processes that they have implemented to minimize their impact on the environment. The following descriptions of their operation come straight from our partner:
Paper Waste: Pressure sensitive paper waste has always been a challenge to recycle since these materials contain adhesives. Presently there are two ways to recycle our material:
- The first method is to send the paper waste rolls to a facility that converts them into fuel pellets. These fuel pellets can then be sent to electric generating plants and substituted for coal. The net effect is that the waste is not put into landfills and the fuel pellets burn cleaner than coal.
- A second method is to convert the paper waste to unrefined paper stocks such as chipboard and cardboard (cereal boxes, paper towel rolls, egg cartons). Currently this is our preferred method, as the recycling plant is located in Central California, while as the fuel pellet plant is located in Michigan, therefore less energy is needed to transport the materials within the state.
We are one of very few printers to recycle our waste rolls. In fact we were the first company to signonto this process. Another benefit of this practice to consider is that our customer’s labels are completely destroyed and could never end up in the wrong hands.
Ink Waste: The water based inks that we use at Paragon are substantially more environmentally friendly than solvent based inks. They emit few VOC (volatile organic compounds) and require only water for clean up compared to toxic cleaning solvents. However, as with all inks, water based inks do contain color pigments and some heavy metal compounds. In 2001 we opted to not further tax the local sewer system and looked for solutions to reduce our own impact. After much research we installed an in-house purification system that filters all of our press waste water. This dedicated system separates and encapsulates the metals and pigments and turns them over to Safety Kleen; a highly regulated leading environmental company that specializes in hazardous waste disposal. They place these “cakes” into a dedicated landfill that is controlled to not allow seepage into land or water. Even further all of our old inks and UV coating materials are disposed of via this company. Our waste water is actually cleaner (less heavy metals ppm) than the city provided tap water that comes into our building.
Plate Making Solvent: An integral chemical used when making flexographic plates is called Optisol. This chemical is a washing agent that removes the unexposed area on the plate. After use, it becomes loaded with photopolymer material and is unusable. When this happens we recycle it through a complex recycling process which allows us to use the Optisol again for an indefinite amount of time. Thus, we do not put this chemical into the waste stream.
Image Processor: Our image processors also use chemicals (fixers) to produce film. This fixer contains a high concentration of silver. Using an off-site facility set up for this particular element, we are able to completely recycle this material as well as the waste film that contains small amounts of silver, so that none could potentially leach from a landfill or make it’s way back into the environment via the sewer system.
Air Quality: All of our presses are registered with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQME). Registering with the district allows them to keep track of our VOC output. We constantly fall well below their allowed VOC output and in most years emit only about 1/3 of what is allowed. This is done by using water-based inks, cleaners, and ink additives that are low in VOC content. Since we have been working with BAAQMD we have always met their standards and have not had a single violation incident.
Electrical Usage: All Paragon employees are encouraged to constantly conserve electricity. Some of the steps that we have in place are as follows:
- All thermostats are set at 74† for cooling and 60† for heat.
- All heating and cooling are turned off during non-work hours.
- Minimal use of office light when possible. Offices with windows are encouraged to keep lights off during the day.
- Lights are turned off in rooms when not in use.
- Computers are powered off during non-working hours.
Turn of presses and all other energy consuming equipment are powered off during breaks, lunches and during non-work hours.
Use only energy efficient light bulbs.
External lights to be off when no one is working. (They are on timers.)
Some other actions we have taken for energy savings are to change all warehouse lighting to new fixtures that use 45 - 90 watt bulbs compared to 250 watt bulbs. We have installed motion detectors on these lights so that they turn off when there is no one in the area. (We also do this in lesser used rooms such as bathrooms and lightly used offices.) These efforts have resulted in us receiving rewards and rebates from our local energy provider. In fact, we were even written up in the PG&E company newsletter for our efforts!
We are working closely with PG&E to reduce our electrical usage during peak energy times. As you know, California can have high energy days that result in black outs. When approaching a high alert of this type, PG&E contacts us and we quickly cut our usage to help conserve power. During peak summer months we run our higher energy consumption machines during the second or third shift to reduce peak usage.
Office recycling: We take comprehensive steps to make sure that all of our office waste is recycled whenever possible. We have several designated recycling stations throughout the building in which employees are instructed to recycle all cans, plastic, glass, and most importantly, office paper. Our warehouse staff also recycles all cardboard boxes and wooden pallets.
