Clear-Cut Plan for the Glass Industry
A December article in the The New York Times about the collapse of prices for recycled goods has generated buzz in the recycling community. The article outlined the reasons for the diminishing market for recycled materials such as cardboard, plastic, newspaper and metals. However, the article failed to mention glass.
In response, the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) wrote a letter-to-the-editor, pointing out that the glass packaging industry is “aggressively moving forward with its plans to make all containers out of 50 percent or more recycled material by the year 2013.”
The glass packaging industry is aiming to make all containers out of 50 percent or more recycled material by the year 2013. Photo: Treehugger.com
GPI also stated that, unlike other recycling industries, the glass packaging industry recycles domestically and does not depend on foreign markets, thus creating American jobs and reducing the amount of energy needed for production.
A Greener Strategy for the Future
Currently, the institute estimates that the average content of recycled material in glass is 25 percent, and some states mandate all glass beverage containers contain a certain amount of recycled material. California law states containers must include 35 percent recycled glass while Oregon requires 50 percent.
However, the glass packaging industry faces a rocky road to 50 percent or more recycled material by 2013. Since January 2009, the average compensation for recycling brown glass has dropped from $13.50 to $11.25 per ton. This decline could deter consumers from recycling glass.
In a follow-up article to GPI’s letter-to-the-editor, The New York Times detailed possible uses of recycled glass. The article cites the California-based Gallo Glass Company. The bottle maker uses 35 to 55 percent of recycled glass in its clear bottles and up to 80 percent for its dark green bottles.
According to Mike Ball, a technical specialist for Gallo Glass, the future of glass recycling is optimistic because of the minimal amount of energy used to turn it to molten glass. Green glass is especially practical because it’s able to use more recycled content due to its darker color.
Do your part and utilize Earth911 to locate a glass recycling center near you.
As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
Dan Carman
posted on March 25th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
The US Glass Industry, not just the GPI, has to take a more aggressive role in glass recycling. Most glass furnaces can easily handle a 50% or greater cullet fraction. Even mixed color “dilution” culllet (ie: glass produced when transitioning from one color to another) can be used up, in small pre-calculated amounts. The issues and challenges for the US Glass Industry is how to take a more proactive role in lobbying for recycling and rebate programs to get larger quantities of what amounts to a valuable raw material. Operating with a much higher “cullet to batch” ratio reduces melting energy requirements (per ton of glass produced) and gas emissions. If we Americans really “walked our talk” and the glass container recycle rate hit 50% or above, it would be a win for everyone.
Timothy Gerling
posted on March 26th, 2009 at 5:09 am
I am a little confused why the price per ton dropping on recycled items would drive public behavior to not recycle. Even at a fraction of the price per ton, it is still a better option then paying per ton to send it to a landfill. I think the real driver of the recycling programs for most of the public is ease of use. Many municipalities have moved to all recycleable material in one container and then sorting it back a reclamation station. Much simpler for us to put all plastics no matter what the number along with cardboard, and paper in one container. The next generation will help drive up the price of recycled material as demand for recycled products gets higher.
eucarya
posted on March 26th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I never really thought about the correlation between dark glass and its ability to incorporate more recycled content. I wonder why we don’t see more green bottles around?