PPB April 2021

had been building apparatuses since he was a child. What began with Legos progressed into purchasing and working on a hot rod—which, DelMuro says, he still does when he has the chance—and making his own furniture. So, he took the trip to try and reignite his passion for design, and combine the worlds of engineering, art and community. Not long after his return, Refresh Glass was born. Refresh Glass is a Tempe, Arizona-based supplier of glassware, home décor and gifting pieces that are made from recycled wine bottles. The company transforms rescued wine bottles into one-of-a-kind wares and conversation-starters that can be customized for clients’ needs, such as glasses, vases, self-watering planters and candles that can be used daily. And in typical DelMuro fashion, not only did he start the company by handcrafting the products himself in his garage, using machinery and tools that he built for this purpose, but he also ventured throughout the community to collect discarded wine bottles in the back of his Toyota 4Runner as well. Fourteen years later, and Refresh Glass products remain 100-percent recycled and 100-percent USA-made. “I realized a while back that I went through a few different phases,” he says. “When I was an engineer, I wanted logic and to make money. When I traveled on my big trip, I wanted to emotionally feel and experience the world. When I started Refresh Glass, I wanted to provide environmental impact for our community.” DelMuro’s decision to make the jump from aerospace engineering to rescued glassware began with an eye-opening revelation. “I resigned frommy engineering position because I calculated that I would work 100,000 hours in my [lifetime] at least, and I asked myself what I wanted to spend those 100,000 hours on,” he says. After returning from his trip, DelMuro became determined to develop a product that would combine practicality with design and cause, and purchased a wine bottle-cutting kit to pursue his vision. “I was hellbent on figuring out how to blend function, style and purpose together, concurrently,” he says. “I bought the bottle-cutting kit in hopes that it would become a path to helping me achieve that passion professionally and provide that kind of multifaceted value to the world.” DelMuro spent hours crafting his first two glasses, but he soon shared his glass creations with close friends, and when they were well received, he decided to sell his recycled, handmade items at farmers’ markets. At these markets, DelMuro formed connections with people who worked for retail, hotels and restaurants, which brought him in touch with businesses that discarded a lot of wine bottles. Today, Refresh Glass has collection partners throughout the Tempe area that allow the company to transform about 20,000 wine bottles every month: a significant feat as, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 70 percent of wine bottles wind up in landfills. And because of the number of bottles that Refresh Glass collects, the company also has an array of styles, colors and shapes to offer. DelMuro took Refresh Glass’s recycling initiative a step further with its 10 Million Bottle Rescue initiative. Already salvaging thousands of wine bottles each week, the company operates with a goal to rescue 10 million glass bottles from landfills every year. “As the company and rescue volumes have grown, About Refresh Glass Founding date: November 2008 Principal: Ray DelMuro, founder and owner Number of orders filled per month: 500 Most popular items: a two-pack of mixed- color glasses, a four- pack of mixed-color 12-ounce glasses, a bundle of four-pack 12-ounce and 16-ounce glasses and a self-watering planter INNOVATE | APRIL 2021 | 23