Packaging: When 'Please Recycle' is Not Enough

Blue Glass Beer Bottle – Click to Search

This is the label created for our fake “E9ZO’s Beer,” which is comprised of a blue glass bottle and an aluminum lid. Click the image above to find recycling opportunities for this product near you. Here are some of the challenges that come up when you try to recycle a product like this:

• The color is a tough issue, because there are not many secondary markets for blue glass. Some communities may only offer clear or brown glass options.
• Glass isn’t a very valuable commodity, and it’s hard to collect and sort. A lot of communities won’t offer glass recycling in general because it’s too expensive.
• Often the aluminum lids can’t be baled (packed up for easy transportation), so it depends on where you live as to whether or not they can go in the bin.

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