50+ glass facilities will participate 
in Recycle Glass Week

Event aims to create more awareness about environmental benefits of glass container recycling.

-- Packaging Digest, 9/1/2009 2:51:00 AM

The Glass Packaging Institute’s (GPI) Recycle Glass Week kicks off on September 21st with 51 events to promote recycling awareness at glass container manufacturing plants and towns across the country. 

Some event highlights:

•  Anchor Glass will be holding events in Winchester, IN; Salem, NJ; Henryetta, OK; Elmira, NY; Jacksonville, FL; Shakopee, MN; Warner Robins, GA; Lawrenceburg, IN; and Tampa, FL during Recycle Glass Week to promote recycling awareness in these plant communities.

•  O-I is holding events at each of its 21 plants across the country. Partnering with the City of Muskogee, OK, O-I will hold a live event at the local recycling center to encourage glass recycling.  And, in Oakland, CA, and Danville, VA, O-I will be educating local elementary students on the benefits of glass recycling. 

•  Saint-Gobain Containers’ glass committees have a goal to visit 100 elementary schools and/or local children’s groups in 16 glass plant communities during Recycle Glass week with the goal of reaching out to over 10,000 students with their glass container educational awareness program featuring “Captain Cullet” and “Little Gob.” 

Consumers can visit www.gpi.org for updates and events in their area.  Activities will be added daily as Recycle Glass Week approaches.

During Recycle Glass Week, consumers will also get four chances to meet “Little Bottle,” the event’s mascot, in New York City. People can recycle with Little Bottle at the Madison Square Park Concert Series on two dates: Saturday, September 19th and Saturday, September 26th. “Little Bottle” will also be making an appearance outside the Today Show at Rockefeller Plaza on Monday, September 21st. additionally, he will be on the streets of NYC on Sunday, September 20th for photo ops with passersby. 

Later in the week, on Wednesday, September 23rd, GPI recognizes its “Friends of Glass,” those companies, organizations and people making significant and innovative efforts to recycle glass containers and create glass-recycling awareness. Get ready for the Clear Choice Awards announcement on Tuesday, September 22nd, and see which glass package designs reign supreme for 2009. On Thursday, September 24th, GPI will announce the winners of its 2009 Recycle Glass University Student YouTube Competition.

“Consumers continue to ask for ways they can reduce their impact on the environment, and through Recycle Glass Week, we are pleased to offer people many opportunities to participate in glass recycling activities as one way they can save energy,” says Cattaneo.

Creating more awareness about the environmental benefits of glass container recycling, GPI members hope to help the glass container industry reach a nationwide goal of 50 percent recycled content in the manufacture of new glass bottles and jars by 2013. Doubling the U.S. glass container recycling rate (28% in 2007) would allow manufacturers to use 50% recycled glass to make new glass containers, saving enough energy to power 21,978 homes for one year and removing 181,550 tons of waste from landfills every month.

SOURCE: Glass Packaging Institute