Forget about saving the world with a hybrid car. Now you can do it with beer. Specifically, beer in squat containers called “growlers.”

Growlers are large glass bottles that come in a variety of sizes — usually around 64 ounces — and are designed so that they can be refilled an infinite amount of times and consequently cut down on the amount of 12-ounce bottles and cans that litter recycling bins.

Simply buy a growler, take it to any of the several tap houses or growler fill stations popping up all over the Eugene-Springfield area, fill it up with your choice of barley pop, take it home, drink it up and repeat.

“It’s all about an ethos to offer nothing but reusable containers for beer,” said Toby Harris, one of the general managers at the month-old The Tap and Growler. “It’s a way to provide households with an environmentally sound way to enjoy beer.”

And the beer of your choosing will remain fresh up to three weeks and three days after it’s sealed at the fill station, according to Harris.

At a station, carbon dioxide is used to create a vapor lock within the growler that prevents oxygen from entering the container. Then the growler is filled up with beer and sealed within 10 seconds. But once the cap — either a swing-top or a twist-off — is removed, the beer will only remain fresh for four to five days.

But for people familiar with stale, half-finished beers gracing their countertops on Saturday mornings, four to five days to finish an opened beer is a miracle.

And now, after the Oregon Legislature passed a bill this past April, winos can get in on the growler action too. That’s right, you can buy growlers of wine or hard cider.

Furthermore, the growler stations that are seemingly appearing overnight in Eugene mostly double as bars. The Tap and Growler, located on 5th Avenue and Pearl Street, has 40 different beers and over 20 different wines on tap, sangria, Sake and a selection of food, too.

“I think growlers and taprooms are the next step in bars,” Harris said. “It’s a place that incubates education. You can learn about different beers and taste them before you buy them.”

With an atmosphere that resembles an upscale coffee shop rather than a bar, The Tap and Growler is a perfect place to go, enjoy a beer served cold but not too cold so you can discover the taste, find out what you like and then take 62 ounces of your choice to go.

Other taprooms or growler fill stations opening up in the Eugene area include Growler Nation, The Growler Guys, The Steel Pail and The Wild Duck Tap House. Local breweries like Oakshire and Falling Sky also dabble with growlers.

For beer and wine enthusiasts looking for an easier way to enjoy their favorite beverages without all the cans, bottles and pesky recycling deposits, growlers could be the way to go.