Customers of Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company (BBB) are being given the opportunity to earn cash back on their beer purchases all while doing their part to protect the environment. BBB recently reintroduced its bottle buy-back program: ‘Cash for Bottles’ which encourages beer drinkers to save their bottles for repurchase and recycling by the company.

The bottle buyback program was paused in late 2019 after Hurricane Dorian decimated the Brewery’s Grand Bahama headquarters, however, when the Sands Beer brand relaunched in September 2020, the program was relaunched making BBB the only company in the country to buy back its reusable beer bottles.

As has been the case for over a decade, customers looking to take advantage of the initiative on Grand Bahama may do so at the Brewery’s headquarters in Freeport, however, the options for residents in New Providence have changed.

“We recently closed our old bulk return location on Nassau street, and those returns can now be made at our Warehouse at the Airport Industrial Park (AIP) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between 10 am and 2 pm” de Cardenas explained. Each returned bottle is subject to stringent cleaning and disinfection protocols which are facilitated by high-powered bottle-washing equipment which effectively removes old labels and glue in the cleaning process.

Understanding that convenience matters, Customers may also return bottles during regular store hours at any of the Jimmy’s Wines & Spirits locations in Nassau; East Bay Street, Wulf Road, Cable Beach, and Carmichael Road. The retail stores accept up to 10 cases at a time and pay $2.50 for each case returned.

The return of the ‘Cash for Bottles’ program is part of a wider plan by the company to not only reduce costs but to encourage a strong culture of recycling amongst its customers. “Elsewhere in the world, companies with similar bottle return policies have managed to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills” de Cardenas explained. “Some countries have reported bottle return rates in the 90% range, which is our goal. That is how we will rate the success of our program, and so our focus now is regaining the momentum we experienced before having to pause the program post- Hurricane Dorian” she explained.

Claudia Decius, Jimmy’s Wines, and Spirits, in speaking to the media explained that all Bahamian Brewery beer bottles can be recycled; Sands, Sands Light, Pink Radler, Passion Radler, Bush Crack Light, High Rock, Strong Back or 66 steps. “Cash for bottles is for every single person, whether you consume our products or if this is just a side hustle, where you go around collecting bottles – we are happy to accept your bottles here at Sands.”