Letter to GT's Kombucha

Well, I've tried calling GT's Kombucha a few times this morning, but have been unable to reach anyone, so I sent the following e-mail:

Hi, I buy your Kombucha regularly from Whole Foods in Glendale and Pasadena.

I've been concerned about the growing number of bottles accumulating at home. I haven't wanted to recycle them, because I have heard that energy-wise it is better to reuse than recycle.

When I was buying some of your "Trilogy" drink from Whole Foods this morning, I was pleased to learn that all bottles returned to the store by customers are taken back by their vendors.

My question is - when you take back your empty GT's Kombucha bottles from Whole Foods, what happens then? Are they washed and refilled, or are they carted away to a recycle center? I would really appreciate hearing back from you, as my concern about creating unnecessary waste is actually what has been holding me back from enjoying as much Kombucha as I'd like.

This note under the "Community" section on your website was actually quite concerning to me: http://gtskombucha.com/com_bell.html, because if you in fact are willing to take back your bottles for reuse, then these avid Kombucha drinkers should not be sending their bottles to the recycle bin!

I noticed the header on that section of your site read "A community focused on health and vitality" - for me, the health and vitality of the planet are important to my own well-being, as well as potentially that of future generations.

I hope you will take the time to answer my question about whether your company refills used Kombucha bottles.

Thanks very much, and happy new year!