Dancing Sands launches NZ-made recycled glass bottles

Dancing Sands Distillery has released its gins in a new recycled glass bottle made in Aotearoa.

The Golden Bay distillery says it is the first New Zealand distillery to move its bottle production to New Zealand on a commercial scale. It estimates that moving bottle production from Europe back to New Zealand will remove 15,000kg of carbon emissions from the distillery’s production cycle every year. 

Dancing Sands founders, Sarah and Ben Bonoma, say they became motivated to reduce their carbon emissions when they started exporting their spirits to the UK, as it meant they were importing bottles from Europe, filling them in Golden Bay and then sending them back across the globe.

Sarah Bonoma contacted New Zealand’s only glass bottle manufacturer and began the 18-month process to design and produce a custom glass bottle. “We knew that moving bottle production to New Zealand, and using recycled glass was the right thing to do, but it has been a long road to bring our goal to fruition with many hurdles along the way,” she says. “It would have been easier to go offshore for bottle production but we knew that we had to stay the course and make it happen.”

The Dancing Sands range includes Dancing Sands Dry Gin, Sauvignon Blanc Gin, Sun-Kissed Gin , Barrel-Aged Gin, and Wasabi Gin.

D: Dancing Sands is distributed by Federal Merchants