Uncorking Zero Waste: How Wine Industry Leaders Turned Waste Into Revenue

Discover how a coalition of wineries transformed operational waste into profitable resources by building a small-community commodity market. Following a TRUE® Zero Waste workshop, wineries in Napa and Sonoma began strategically source-separating materials and collaborating with suppliers and reprocessors to reduce costs and redesign how materials move through their operations and communities.

Through the North Bay Zero Waste Collective, wineries have rethought purchasing, packaging, and material handling, creating new value across their supply chains. The Collective has identified specialized reprocessors for materials like film plastic, cardboard, corks, glass bottles, and label backing. Working with local and national partners, the goal is to help close material loops (including converting recovered cardboard into pallet sheets), divert materials from landfills, reduce waste costs, train employees, and maximize reuse, repair and redesign policies.

The financial and operational impact is significant: participating wineries have collectively saved or generated over $100,000 through reduced waste fees and recycled material sales and diverted over 350,000 lbs. of plastic. With expansion into Sonoma and Oregon and a new workforce partnership with the Conservation Corps North Bay, this collaborative model now delivers cost savings, sustainable jobs, and a replicable framework for waste-smart business operations.

Today, the North Bay Zero Waste Collective stands as an operational model for regional collaboration- lowering costs, strengthening supply-chain resilience, and reducing environmental impact across the wine industry. www.wineindustryzerowaste.com

Session attendees will leave with practical tools, procurement strategies, and implementation frameworks to replicate these results within their own businesses and communities.