California DOC and Legislative Staff Tour Glass Facilities

On November 6, key California Department of Conservation (DOC) leaders and about a dozen state legislative staff toured Bay Area glass recycling and manufacturing facilities.

Organized by the DOC, visitors toured the Davis Street Recycling Center, Strategic Materials glass processing facility in San Leandro, a Tomra "rePlanet" recycling center, and finished up at O-I's glass manufacturing plant in Oakland.

"The Oakland Plant was proud to host our friends from the Department of Conservation and Capitol Staff," says Loren Johnson, O-I Oakland Plant Manager. "Recycling education tours are a beneficial way for legislators to learn about the possibilities of glass recycling."

The tour gave legislative staff and DOC personnel a first hand look at glass recycling. Legislators rely on their staff to a great extent in making informed, sound decisions regarding the state's recycling programs. Tour participants were able to see exactly what happens at these facilities and how glass recycling works—from curb and recycling center to a new glass bottle.

"California is a global leader in environmental conservation. OI and The Oakland Plant are proud to be a part of a mutually beneficial relationship with the state legislator," says Johnson. "I'm confident that by developing a working relationship with the state legislator we can promote glass containers as the 100% recyclable packaging material of the future."

The Oakland plant is currently running at full production, and using about 45% cullet, or recycled glass, which allows them to reduce energy and significantly cut carbon emissions. The plant manufacturers primarily wine bottles and are the sole source for Sutter Home Winery.

Monterey, CA Targets Container Recycling at Local Events

Pro-Tainer's Pro-Side Dump mobile collection unit

The Glass Packaging Institute, through a grant from the CA Dept. of Conservation, is helping the City of Monterey, CA expand its collection of CRV beverage containers by an expected additional three million annually.

By early next year, the city has plans to establish mobile bottle recycling (see photo) for about 75 annual special event days and provide drop-off collection at two military installations. A custom-built improvement to the local MRF glass sorting line is also planned. "We want to get better value for all color glass, especially clear," says Angela Brantley, City of Monterey Solid Waste Program Manager.

"After moving to single stream collection about a decade ago, the quality of the paper and glass from the MRF has not been so good. An expansion of the conveyor line will help reduce glass breakage and allow for glass separation before it's shattered," says Brantley.

For container collection at special events, mobile trailers and collection equipment will be purchased. "We want to make it easy for people to recycle glass," says Brantley. To do that, volunteers will empty material from recycling stations throughout the event to larger containers housed on mobile trailers, which are then hauled to the MRF for separate processing.

"The trailers are low to the ground for easy lifting of containers into them, and they can be locked," says Brantley. The City will partner with a variety of volunteers groups—from high schools to church groups, which receive funding for their services from the hauling companies. The City is also creating graphics for bins and public education.

Kick off for event recycling is early 2008 after the trailers arrive. "Our biggest focus now is coordinating with event holders. They are already planning for next year. This needs to get on their agenda," says Brantley. While recycling is mandatory for city events, they hope to bring private events into compliance with this assistance.

Since 9/11, military installations have allowed only limited recycling collection bins. To provide for beverage container recycling under these conditions, the City will host regular drop-off collection with an initial pilot to start in March. "The pilot will help use identify the best location, ensure appropriate coordination, and most importantly make sure we've done the education and gotten the word out," says Brantley.

PACKAGING TRENDS

Using Glass and Shape to Build an Iconic Brand

Brand Packaging's September feature, "Isn't it Iconic," highlights the secret to elevating a package to "iconic" status, and creating a package that becomes a signature, recognizable part of the overall brand. It's not surprising that three of the four featured products are contoured glass bottle shapes—Coca-Cola, Heinz Ketchup, and Red Strip.

Companies hoping to duplicate the success of these products are taking notice, and using glass for its contouring capability and high-quality to build their own brand. Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey, Bertolli's new Organic Pasta Sauce, and Frützzo are just a few that are hoping to reach the same iconic status.

Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey

New packaging for Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey reflects its quality and heritage, while giving the product a modern edge—a good combination for an "iconic-headed" brand. The new contoured glass bottle design features a curved shoulder and embossed decoration. The Jack Daniel's sloped shoulder glass design communicates the smoothness of the whiskey, while the embossed signature reminds consumers of the strength of the company's heritage.

Bertolli's new Organic Pasta Sauce

For Bertolli's new Organic Pasta Sauce, Unilever chose an upgraded glass package to showcase its product's premium image and to differentiate it in the highly competitive pasta sauce category. The result was the development of an "iconic" shape to drive brand recognition across multiple categories. 

"The Bertolli sauce jar design is unique because it is able to optimize multiple key design factors. It satisfies marketing and brand needs to stand out on shelves in a very cluttered sauce category, maintains the upscale brand image and Italian heritage, and builds on and extends the visual equity in the Bertolli oil bottle," said Eric Manke, Supply Management Manager at Unilever.

Frützzo

In the case of Frützzo, a premium pomegranate-based organic juice beverage, the iconic glass bottle shape, which also won the company a Glass Packaging Institute Clear Choice Award, is meant to express not a specific fruit but instead the various ideals behind the brand: natural, organic, healthy, exotic, and fruit in a general sense.

"Having your own unique package shape that expresses your product helps to further define your brand and allows consumers to more readily recognize your product, especially under unpredictable retail environments," said George Xanthos, Creative Director, Frützzo, LLC.

Glass Packaged "true fruits" Juices Win Over Consumers and Industry

 "true fruits" smoothie-like juices, introduced late 2006 in Germany, have already won three European design awards and are a hit among consumers. The 250 mL clear glass bottles, manufactured by O-I, are marked with printed lines that act as visual indicators of the percent of fruit portions inside. International judges noted that "a high-quality printed glass bottle" had been chosen instead of the customary labeled polyethylene terephthalate bottle, "focusing on the most important thing… the product." Read the news release

SUSTAINABILITY

Glass Makes Strides with Sustainability

Glass Industry Initiatives Lessen Impact of Glass Containers on the Environment, with More Planned for 2008

The glass container industry is bringing innovation to glass packaging design and manufacturing to reduce waste, costs, and impact on the environment. Efforts have also stepped up to boost glass bottle recycling.

"We're focused on figuring out the best ways to improve the entire glass production process and then bring that glass bottle back to the manufacturer to start the cycle all over again," says Joseph Cattaneo, Glass Packaging Institute president.

Consumer preferences for sustainability led many to turn to glass in 2007. "As environmental friendliness, sustainability, and healthy packaging are projected to remain at the forefront of importance for the packaging industry in 2008, the outlook for the glass container market looks promising," says Cattaneo.

Improvements in technology are allowing for increased versatility in creating innovative packaging shapes and designs, and for better manufacturing processes to create lighter-weight bottles.

"In 2007, the glass container industry developed new contoured packaging shapes and sustainable technology to help brands create shelf impact while simultaneously reducing their impact on the environment," says Cattaneo. "The glass industry is dedicated to continue innovating in 2008."

Coca-Cola recently redesigned its classic contour glass bottles, resulting in a reduction in the bottles' weight and an improvement of impact resistance. This sustainable effort, known as e3, saved 89,000 metric tons of glass in 2006, according to the company, which is the equivalent of planting more than 13,000 acres of trees.

Glass manufacturer, Owens-Illinois (O-I), recently worked with UK brewer, Adnams, to reduce a 500 mL ale bottle by 30% (from 450g to 300g) via a new design, narrow neck press, and blow light-weighting process. The result: reduction in energy, waste, emissions and use of raw materials.

More recently, the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), as part of the GlassRite Food Project, helped Mars, a major food brand owner, reduce the weight of its glass container by 6% of the weight of the original Mars Uncle Ben's ambient sauce jars. As a result, Mars has saved enough energy equal to taking 192 cars off the road.

The industry is also lessening its impacts on the environment by cutting down on transportation where possible. Owens Illinois (O-I) has benefited from building its Windsor, Colorado glass pant, built in 2005, 16 miles from the Anheuser-Busch (A-B) brewery. O-I now ships 1.008 billion glass bottles 16 miles vs. an average of 774 miles annually, greatly reducing the company's impact on the environment via transportation. The partnership between O-I and A-B will also eliminate the need for 109 million miles of freight over the next 10 years, will save 1.95 million gallons of diesel fuel annually, and will eliminate 24 metric tons of CO² annually.

Building "green" is a trend that will continue into 2008. Emhart Glass, the world's leading technology supplier for the glass container industry, will build a $20 million research center in a commercial area of Windsor, CT to develop glass-making technology for the 21st century. This investment will assist Emhart in its ongoing research to develop glass-strengthening processes that reduce shattering, and improve the speed and economics of glass production.

Additionally, Port of Kalama, Washington, is the site for the first wine bottle glass plant in 30 years. Scheduled for startup in the last half of 2008, the 175,000 square foot facility will rely on a hydro-powered electric furnace, making it the largest eco-friendly wine bottle manufacturing facility in the world. Recycling will be a top priority for the plant.

The glass container industry is also working to better glass recycling processes. Efforts include working to improve curbside recycling processes, single-stream recovered glass quality, and recycling in bars and restaurants.

Recycling of glass bottles at bars/restaurants was on the upswing in 2007 in states such as North Carolina, Colorado, and California. In California, a bottle bill state, the Glass Packaging Institute, through a CA Department of Conservation grant, has provided San Luis Obispo County IWMA with a glass container collection truck and 150 3-yard containers to help add nearly 80 bars/restaurant, breweries, and wineries in 2007 to an existing commercial collection program of over 100 bars/restaurants. They expect to collect an additional 100,000-200,000 containers a month. 

Food Jars Take a Turn at Light Weighting

The UK's Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), as part of the GlassRite Food Project, has helped Mars, a major food brand owner, reduce the weight of its glass packaged Uncle Ben's ambient sauce jars by 6%. As a result, Mars has saved the energy equivalent of taking 192 cars off the road. Read the article

LEGISLATION

MA Considers Bottle Bill Expansion Legislation

The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy held a hearing to debate the merits of expanding the state's current bottle deposit system to include water and other non-carbonated beverage containers.

Under the proposed measures, this five-cent deposit would include non-carbonated drinks, such as tea, sports drinks, and water beverages. Currently, a five-cent deposit is required on bottles and cans that contain carbonated beverages, such as soft drinks and beer.

New curbside recycling collection containers that would go directly to the deposit program are also on the table. Opponents want to keep the current curbside system in place because collection companies get paid by volume, and would be likely to lose money if fewer bottles were picked up.

The program's handling fee would also increase from 2.25 cents to at least three cents per unit delivered to distributors, and from 2.25 cents to at least 2.5 cents per unit picked up by distributors. Distributors would be reimbursed by the Commonwealth $0.004 for every unit redeemed.

Supporters of these measures include Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a former Coca-Cola Co. executive. If approved, the system would be expanded on December 1, 2009.

GLASS RECYCLING

Sorting Technology to Improve Glass Quality in Trial

A California Department of Conservation grant awarded in January 2007 to Environmental Planning Consultants aims to improve the quality of glass coming out of materials recovery facilities receiving recyclables from single stream collection sources.

The $430,000 grant provides for construction and testing of a prototype low-impact sorter that will recover high-quality beverage container glass for reuse in making new glass bottles. The prototype was constructed by GreenWaste Recovery, Inc.

"Most glass bottles do not seem to be broken in the collection truck," says Richard Gertman of Environmental Planning. "It's happening at the MRF." The processing system is designed to minimize breakage at the early stages of collection and processing to keep glass out of the paper and remove glass contaminants. Watch video of sort technology

"We're still making major changes to the system," says Gertman. "The sort line needs to move faster, and we are going to put in a longer and wider sorting belt." But results so far show paper with almost no glass in it, and glass bottles with no breakable contaminants in them.

The concept behind the technology is a high incline conveyor with short cleats or cross bars on the belt. As material is loaded on to a rubber belt, the round materials are removed from the flat ones by gravity. The round materials are then separated by density.

The low-impact sorting system has six parts, shown on the video

1. A receiving hopper where the collected load is discharged.

2. An elevating conveyor belt that takes materials up and drops them onto the sort conveyor. The elevating conveyor moves very slowly.

3. The sort conveyor, which is the primary belt (the steepest angle belt at the beginning of the video clip)

4. A blower to separate the round-sort materials into lighter and heavier fractions (glass and partially full plastic bottles from aluminum cans and empty plastic bottles)

5. Two take away belts for the lighter and heavier round materials (the heavy round fraction or glass is shown on video clip)

6. The flat materials takeaway belt, which is mostly paper.

The system works by cascading mixed materials onto the #3 sort conveyor belt. With the short cleats on the belt, the round materials won't go up, but the flat plastic bags and paper (and a small fraction of broken glass) do. The glass line is not heavily loaded, so personnel can "sweep" contaminants, such as ceramics and Pyrex, from the line as they come by.

Testing is ongoing and a proposal for additional California DOC funding to build the system is in the works. Request more information

1000 WORDS

CNN.com posted this "Quick Vote" question: "Do man-made chemicals in plastics or textiles pose a threat to your health?" The Results:

The question was asked in conjunction with an October 22, 2007 article entitled, "Tests reveal high chemical levels in kids' bodies". Read the article

Copyright © 2007 Glass Packaging Institute 

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