The Glass Packaging Institute announces Recycle Glass Day on December 10, 2008. This annual event will help build national awareness about the benefits of glass container recycling to save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and better the environment.
 
“We hope this awareness event will result in higher levels of glass collected for recycling and create positive attitudes about recycling overall,” says Joe Cattaneo, GPI President. “Recycling is an integral part of the cradle-to-cradle process of glass packaging manufacturing.”
 
In conjunction with Recycle Glass Day, GPI is sponsoring a YouTube video competition to promote glass recycling. The competition is open to packaging sciences students at participating schools, including Cal Poly, Clemson University, Michigan State, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, San Jose State University, Stout University of Wisconsin, and the University of Florida. Winners will be announced on Recycle Glass Day.
 
Visit the Recycle Glass Day web site to:
 
•   Find out how to recycle glass containers in your area.
•   Calculate how much carbon you save by recycling glass bottles.
•   Get facts about glass container recycling.
•   Discover the “Top Ten” reasons to recycle glass containers.
•   Commit to recycle glass containers by signing the “I Commit to Recycle Glass” pledge. Pledge now

New Ad Campaign Focuses on PURITY of Glass Containers

GPI kicks off a new ad campaign this fall to educate consumers about the “PURE” benefits of glass containers for their health and the health of the environment.
 
While much is yet to be understood about the effects of other packaging materials on human health, glass has proven safe and healthy for consumers and the environment for more than 3,000 years. No other packaging material has the proven track record of glass. Visit GPI’s “PURE” Website to learn more.
 
Ensure your foods are fresh and PURE in glass bottles and jars. Ask your grocer to keep it PURE.
 
Are you a brand manager? Stay ahead of the curve and choose glass to keep your products PURE. Get a list of glass container suppliers and distributors.

New York Times Publishes GPI Response to Boxed Wine Article

GPI’s letter-to-the-editor in response to a New York Times op-ed by Tyler Coleman on the environmental ins and outs of boxed wine got readers thinking about glass as the truly “green” packaging. Read GPI’s response. And check out consumers reactions to GPI’s letter-to-the-editor on the “Serious Eats” blog.

John Gallo Receives 2008 Phoenix Award

John Gallo, Vice President of Gallo Glass, receives the prestigious 2008 Phoenix Award, given every year to a person, now living, who has made extraordinary contributions to the glass industry. The award will be presented to Mr. Gallo at a black-tie award banquet at The Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco, CA, September 26, 2008.
 
For decades, John Gallo has devoted himself to reinforcing a dynamic company culture where the success of the company is grounded in embracing new technology and in each employee’s commitment to excellence. Get news release

PACKAGING TRENDS

A Look Inside: The “Love Bottle” Company 

Love Bottle Company founder Minna Yoo talks to GPI about her new 100% recyclable, reusable, and customizable glass “love bottles” on GPI’s new “TIP” podcast. Listen to the podcast

Podcast Transcript: Interview with Minna Yoo, Love Bottle Company

Hi, I’m Kristen LeKander and welcome to the GPI Podcast for September, 2008. We’re excited now to speak with Minna Yoo, founder and CEO of the Love Bottle Company. Hi Minna, thanks for joining us today. I think the first thing our listeners want to know is

What is a "Love Bottle”?

A Love Bottle is a reusable glass water bottle that is made partially from recycled glass. It has a ceramic sling-top lid with a little rubber seal so it forms a watertight seal. There are all sorts of different printed designs on them, and it’s really about getting to express what you want to express right onto your bottle. My bottle is based on the idea that words and pictures have energy and that water is affected by that energy. So whatever you write on your bottle or draw on your bottle affects your water and then when you drink it, you can feel a difference.
 
What’s behind the Love Bottle name?
 
I chose the name Love Bottle for my company and for the bottle mainly because the first time I ever saw a water crystal formed by the word love, it really struck me as a stunning picture. It’s kind of like just a beautiful snowflake and I remember writing down the man’s name who took the picture, Masaru Emoto. I had written and read about how he takes photos of how water is affected by different words and I was so struck by it that, and so taken especially with the “love” crystal, that I just started writing “love” on all my bottles. Pretty much from that day forward I knew I wanted to make the company called Love Bottle.
 
Why did you choose glass over alternative packaging materials?
 
Glass is always my first option and I always enjoy drinking out of glass the most. Amongst the nutrition world, we’ve known about bisphenol A leaching in plastic for quite some time. It’s only hitting the mass media now, but it’s been sort of known in the more holistic health world for a long time. So I haven’t been drinking out of plastic for a number of years and I have always loved the way water tastes and the whole mouth feel out of glass. It just tastes better out of glass.
 
How does using a Love Bottle help the planet?
 
OK so there’s lots of different ways, I mean just in the US alone, it is kind of overwhelming, and a little disgusting the numbers, the statistics of how many plastic bottles we use. I think every day they say over 60 million plastic water bottles are used, which this is just in the US, not globally, and that means over 22 billion a year. And they say from that staggering amount about 80 – 90 percent end up in the trash, and don’t get recycled. So not only are we creating all of this plastic waste that doesn’t decompose, it also uses a lot of non-renewable petroleum to actually make the bottles and to transport them to all the different places that use them.
 
How have your consumers responded to your bottles?
 
Well, I just launched fairly recently, at the end of April, and it’s been pretty much spreading quickly via word of mouth. I hear stories all the time that when people walk around with the bottle, people ask them questions … they’ll stop and be like “what’s that?” … and are sort of intrigued, so the response has been really good. I hear a lot from people that they find themselves drinking a lot more water than they used to, and so they’ll say that they’re skin’s gotten better, that they feel more hydrated and healthy and they’re drinking less soda or coffee, or whatever the other beverage they used to be drinking more of. It’s really been great.
 
Minna, thanks for joining us today. If you’d like to learn more about glass, love bottles, or buy one for yourself, please visit the Love Bottle website at www.lovebottle.net.

LEGISLATION

South Australian Government Increases Consumer Deposit for Containers

South Australia’s government doubled the deposit on covered drink containers from 5 to 10 cents starting September 1. This is the first increase since the container deposit law was introduced in 1977.
 
The Rann Government (South Australian) hopes the increased payment will reverse a decline in the number of containers returned for refunds. Environment Minister Jay Weatherill said South Australia had higher recycling rates than other states, but could still improve. As the only state that offers a refund on drink containers, it already recovers 80% of glass containers, compared with 36% nationally.

GLASS RECYCLING

Resource Recycling Posts Results of Recycling Coordinator Survey

A recent survey of nearly 300 U.S. recycling officials, conducted by Resource Recycling magazine, found that 64.8% want to see federal action on a national beverage container deposit law.  A small majority (57%) would like a law requiring states to meet a minimum recycling rate.  
 
Survey respondents also see “consumer education” (76.5%) and “political leadership” (62.3%) as issues critical issues to the future of materials recovery.  And when it comes to barriers for improving recycling, “rising fuel costs” is the biggest barrier (78.6%) and “recycling market demand” the smallest (41.9%).  Of those surveyed, 78% offer drop-off recycling for residential collection, while 71% report using a curbside service for recovery of recyclables.  Get all survey findings

Glass Bottle Recycling at Outdoor Events Heats Up in Monterey, CA

The City of Monterey is expanding the collection of glass and other beverage containers with mobile bottle recycling at local outdoor events.

“We just finished a successful bottle collection event for our July 4th fireworks extravaganza,” says Angela Brantley, City of Monterey Solid Waste Program Manager. “People loved the availability of the mobile recycling event and City staff commented on the decrease of glass containers found on the beach July 5th.”

The City collected over 1,500 CRV (California Refund Value) glass containers in about six hours. Next year, they plan to expand the effort and have volunteers reach out to event attendees to make it even easier to recycle.

In August, the Wine Makers Festival rounded up over 5,000 wine bottles and an additional 1400 CRV containers. "Using a trailer that allows separation of glass by color at the event has produced more quality glass for recycling, and has made overall collection by event participants simple to do. Keeping these programs simple is the only way to produce a quality product and successful event."

The mobile collection container was purchased with the support of the Glass Packaging Institute, through a grant from the CA Dept. of Conservation. The program has also increased glass bottle curbside collection 5-6 tons/month by reaching out to bars, restaurants, and hotels.

CO Glass Recycling Pilot Improves Recycling and Reduces Waste

The City of Fort Collins, Larimer County and the City of Loveland, CO recently co-developed a separated glass recycling pilot project to improve recycling efforts and reduce landfill waste. Citizens of these locales now have opportunity to participate in a voluntary program that gives them the option to drop off glass in designated “glass only” bins at three locations.
 
Folks can continue to place glass bottles and jars in their communities’ curbside collection program. However, local experts indicate that glass capture rates for single-stream recycling may only reach 30%. By contrast, residents can be assured that close to 100% of all glass collected at the designated drop-off centers are manufactured into new glass at the Rocky Mountain Bottling Company in Wheat Ridge. To review the in-depth study that Fort Collins, Larimer County and Loveland commissioned in the process of assessing the best alternative for their communities, take a look at “Best Management Practices for Glass Recycling in Northern Colorado.”

1000 WORDS

Introducing Glass Straws

Green Home sells glass drinking straws as a “beautiful solution to environmental and health issues”. These colorful straws (available in Red, Green, Blue, and Clear) are made of borosilicate heavy-wall tubing, and annealed using techniques that make it the strongest glass commercially available. Check it out

Copyright © 2008 Glass Packaging Institute 

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