The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), along with beverage companies Diageo and New Belgium Brewing, and the glass processing and recycling industry, have convened a group of organizations to make glass recycling work in the U.S. The nearly two-dozen member organizations are joining forces to create the U.S. 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.
The coalition involves membership and collaboration across the entire glass industry supply chain. According to GPI, this is the first time organizations, including consumer brands, glass manufacturers, waste haulers, recycling processors, and trade organizations, will work toward this common goal.
Explains GPI, glass containers for food and beverages are 100% recyclable, but today the U.S. 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, says GPI, but it 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,” says Lynn Bragg, President of GPI. “For glass container and fiberglass manufacturers, the demand for recycled glass dramatically exceeds the supply.”
Coalition members intend to work on bringing best practices to the U.S. 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 fiberglass. For companies such as 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,” explains Roberta Barbieri, Global Environmental Director, Diageo. “We are keen to see an increase in glass recycling in the U.S., 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.”
Says Katie Wallace, Assistant Director of Sustainability for New Belgium Brewing, “At New Belgium, we are always looking at how we can honor the environment in our business decisions, and recycling is a key part of that. We know the glass recycling industry is facing significant challenges and believe that consumer-facing brands are an important part of a collaborative, nationwide, solution. We look forward to all that lies ahead and are honored 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 Co.
- Ardagh Group
- Diageo (co-founder)
- Gallo Glass Co.
- Glass Packaging Institute (co-founder)
- Goose Island Beer Co.
- Heineken USA
- NAIMA (North American Insulation Mfg. Assn. (NWRA)
- New Belgium Brewing (co-founder)
- National Waste and Recycling Assn. (NWRA)
- O-I
- Pratt Industries
- The Recycling Partnership
- Resource Recycling Systems (facilitator)
- Republic Glass
- Ripple Glass
- Rocky Mountain Bottle Co.
- Sierra Nevada Brweing Co.
- Sims Municipal Recycling
- Strategic Materials, Inc.
- Waste Management
