The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), along with beverage leaders including Diageo and New Belgium Brewing and the glass processing and recycling industry, has convened a dynamic group of organisations to make glass recycling work in the US.
The nearly-two-dozen member organisations are joining forces to create the US Glass Recycling Coalition. The coalition’s primary goal is to help build a foundation to make glass recycling a successful industry, and an efficient, high-quality and convenient service consumers want and expect.
An extraordinary aspect of this coalition is the fact that it involves membership and collaboration across the entire glass supply chain. For the first time ever, organisations, including consumer brands, glass manufacturers, waste haulers, recycling processors, and trade organisations involved within many of these industries, will work toward this common goal.
Glass containers for food and beverages are 100% recyclable, but today the US recycling system faces a perfect storm of economic forces that is making it harder to recycle glass. Glass recycling can pose unique challenges on the recycling infrastructure if not planned for and executed correctly. In addition, a few municipalities have decided to remove glass from their curbside recycling programs and send it to disposal instead. This trend is not only environmentally harmful, but also serves to disengage and confuse the public on recycling.
“The Glass Packaging Institute is excited to partner with stakeholders along the entire value chain to work together on practical and targeted solutions for returning more recycled glass back to manufacturers for new bottles and jars,” said GPI president Lynn Bragg. “For glass container and fibreglass manufacturers, the demand for recycled glass dramatically exceeds the supply.”
Coalition members intend to work on bringing best practices to the US glass recycling supply chain to increase the availability of “cullet”, the industry term for furnace-ready recycled glass that can become new bottles and jars, as well as fibreglass. For companies like Diageo and New Belgium Brewing, glass is not being recycled at a high enough rate to meet the beverage makers’ needs for recycled glass to make new bottles.
“Diageo is committed to sustainable packaging for our products, and we have significant global ambitions to increase the recycled content in our packaging,” explained Roberta Barbieri, global environmental director for Diageo. “We are keen to see an increase in glass recycling in the US, and so we decided to come together with our beverage industry peers and representatives from across the entire glass recycling ecosystem to begin to identify solutions.”
“At New Belgium, we are always looking at how we can honour the environment in our business decisions and recycling is a key part of that,” said Katie Wallace, New Belgium’s assistant director of sustainability. “We know the glass recycling industry is facing significant challenges and believe that consumer-facing brands are an important part of a collaborative, nation-wide solution. We look forward to all that lies ahead and are honoured to be part of this process.”
The coalition aims to help create an efficient system for glass recycling, making it a viable option for everyone. Together, the coalition will work to develop strategies to assist municipalities with glass recycling decisions, and establish a network of glass recycling resources and champions.
Confirmed members of the coalition include: Allagash Brewing Company; Ardagh Group; Diageo (co-founder); Gallo Glass Company; Glass Packaging Institute (co-founder); Goose Island Beer Company; Heineken USA; NAIMA (North American Insulation Manufacturing Association); New Belgium Brewing (co-founder); National Waste and Recycling Association (NWRA); O-I; Pratt Industries; The Recycling Partnership; Resource Recycling Systems (facilitator); Republic Services; Ripple Glass; Rocky Mountain Bottle Company; Sierra Nevada Brewing Co; Sims Municipal Recycling; Strategic Materials Inc; and Waste Management.
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