Minnesota and Tennessee Keep Focus on Container Deposits
The first in a series of surveys conducted by the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, shows that more than 40 million beverage containers are not getting recycled by Duluth, MN area residents, and it's a statewide problem. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reports that Minnesotans waste $285 million annually in the lost value of recyclable materials thrown in the garbage. This has renewed efforts to enact a beverage container deposit law in the state. Recycling Refund notes that Minnesota recycles only 35% of its beverage containers, compared to 97% in Michigan, which has a beverage container deposit program.
And in Tennessee, Marge Davis, coordinator of Pride of Place/Tennessee Bottle Bill Project, made public the benefits of the "Tennessee Recycling Refunds Act" in a Knox News editorial. The bipartisan measure aims to increase recycling and reduce litter with a 5-cent deposit on glass, plastic, and aluminum beverage containers.
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Recycled -- and musical -- glass bottles play a starring role in the winner of the 2011 America Recycles Day "Recycling is No Joke" video competition.
 | | First Place - America Recycles Day 2011 Video Competition |
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Events Calendar
January 26, 2012 St. Pete Beach, FL | |
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Recycling, Jobs and the Environment
A wave of recent national and state studies illustrates the environmental impact of recycling and its power to create jobs. Using recycled materials, like recycled glass to make new glass bottles, improves energy efficiency, helps protect U.S. jobs, and generates revenue.
An Ohio Department of Natural Resources recycling economic impact study found that the Ohio recycling industry generates $22.5 billion in direct sales, employs more than 100,000 people, and generates more than $65 million in state tax revenues. In North Carolina, a Department of Environment and National Resources report shows that more than 15,000 state residents are employed in the recycling industry, the result of effective policies, expansion of recyclable items, active recycling business growth, and momentum in local government recycling programs. The Container Recycling Institute just released "Returning to Work: Understanding the Jobs Impacts from Different Methods of Recycling beverage Containers," which includes an excel-based jobs model and finds that beverage container deposit systems provide 11 to 38 times more direct jobs than curbside recycling systems for beverage containers. And Congress unanimously approved a resolution (SR 251) that reinforces the importance of recycling to the U.S. economy and the need to improve the collection, processing, and use of recyclable materials. A report conducted by the Tellus Institute found that increasing the national recycling rate to 75% would lead to more jobs and less pollution. In addition to producing nearly 1.5 million jobs, a 75% diversion rate would reduce carbon emissions by 276 metric tons by 2030, the equivalent of eliminating emission from 72 coal-fired power plants. Check out the BlueGreen Alliance "Jobs 21" initiative. |
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Embossed Glass is "Boss" for Brands Vying for a Deeper Connection with Consumers
Prior to the development of inexpensive paper labels, food and beverage producers often relied on embossed glass bottles to carry the name of their brands from store shelves to consumers' pantries. In fact, from the mid-19th century until the early 20th century, embossed glass bottles were ubiquitous, the product of their functionality as much as their aesthetic appeal.
In recent years, embossed glass bottles have been making a comeback. While the process never fully went away, brands looking to separate themselves from the pack have begun to utilize the process more aggressively, in some cases doing away with paper and painted labels entirely.
rolled out its Bulleit Rye. Like other recent Bulleit products, the package features the product's name embossed on the bottle as a clear reference to 19th century whiskey bottles you might see in the Old West. The Bulleit Rye bottle is manufactured by Vitro.
In 2006, Hank's Gourmet Beverage Company repackaged its products in high-quality embossed glass bottles, manufactured by Verallia. The packaging was so well received that in 2007, Hank's was the winner of GPI's Clear Choice Award in the Carbonated Beverage category.
More recently in Australia, Carlton United Brewers' began using fully-embossed label panel for its new Victoria Pale Lager, which Carlton anticipates will help separate its products from the competition. Manufactured by Owens-Illinois (O-I)--- which helped revolutionize embossing with the development of its internally embossed Vortex bottle ---- Victoria Pale Lager is currently Australia's only beer bottle with a fully-embossed label panel.
"This is just the start of what consumers will see in the marketplace as we continue to work with customers on new product development," says O-I Australia business manager --- beer, Peter Sexton-Bruce, who adds that the innovative embossed glass packaging gives consumers an impression of premium quality, and the production expense is marginal on higher volume products.
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Dairies Bring Back Holiday Eggnog in Glass
 A host of small dairies are featuring holiday eggnogs in pure glass bottles. At Shatto Milk Company near Kansas City, MO, traditional and pumpkin spice eggnogs have arrived in a new limited-edition glass bottle for the holiday season (photo left). Hartzler Family Dairy in Wooster, OH shows off their luscious, winter eggnog in a returnable or recyclable glass bottle (photo right). Finally, Smiling Hill Farm, Westbrook, ME, is proud to feature all of their liquid beverages, including seasonal eggnog, "in glass bottles of course!" |
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Glass News Round-Up
O-I launches its latest light-weight wine bottle, a 750mL Lean+Green Premium Burgundy glass bottle that is 26% lighter-down from 545g to 405g-and manufactured at O-I's Adelaide, Australia plant.
The U.S. EPA's new "iWARM" recycling
energy saver widget lets consumers
calculate how much energy is saved by recycling---- for example one or more glass bottles ---- and then share the results on Facebook and Twitter. It's ready to embed on your website.
Emhart Glass and Vetropack will commercialize a technology for tempering glass containers, allowing for stronger and lighter-weight glass bottles. The reusable tempered glass containers are also fully recyclable. Read more.
Glass is Life™, O-I's global communication campaign, moves to a second phase with the introduction of two new European glass advocates. More.
-and a display in the exclusive Paris DesignPack Gallery along with a page in The Packaging Design Book. The Gize bottle is produced by O-I for Canadian Mineral Water S.A.
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