• Recycled glass reduces emissions and consumption of raw materials.

• It extends the life of plant equipment, such as furnaces.

• It saves energy.

Recycled glass containers are always needed because glass manufacturers require high-quality recycled container glass to meet market demands for new glass containers.

Recycled glass is always part of the recipe and the more that is used, the less is the energy needed.

This makes using recycled glass profitable in the long run, lowering costs for manufacturers and benefiting the environment.

Some recycled glass containers are not able to be used in the manufacture of new glass bottles and jars or to make fiberglass because they are contaminated or the recycled glass pieces are too small to meet manufacturing specifications. Nothing goes to waste and these “secondary” batches are then used for non-container glass products like tiles, filtration, sand blasting, concrete pavements and parking lots.

The recycling approach that the industry favors is any recycling program that results in contaminant-free recycled glass.

• Glass bottles and jars are 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without any loss in purity or quality.

• In 2018, according to the U.S. EPA

• 39.6% of beer and soft drink bottles were recycled.

• 39.8% of wine and liquor bottles were recycled.

• 15.0% of food and other glass jars were recycled.

• In total, 33.1% of all glass food and beverage containers were recycled.

• 3.35 million tons of recycled glass is annually purchased by the container & fiberglass industry collectively of which is all been remelted and repurposed into new containers and fiberglass products. (Sources: Precision Consulting, NAIMA)

• Over a ton of natural resources are saved for every ton of glass recycled.

• Energy costs drop about 2-3% for every 10% cullet used in the manufacturing process.

• 1 ton of carbon dioxide is reduced for every 6 tons of recycled container glass used in the manufacturing process.

• According to the Container Recycling Institute where there is a container deposit system in place through legislations the average glass container recycling rate reaches over 63% against 24% for places without recycling systems.

• Beverage container deposit systems provide 11 to 38 times more direct jobs than curbside recycling systems for beverage containers.

• Recycling 1,000 tons of glass creates slightly over 8 jobs. (Source: Container Recycling Institute).

  ***Source: Glass Recycling Facts – Glass Packaging Institute (gpi.org)