It’s Blue Skies Ahead for St. Louis Cardinals and Glass Bottle Recycling
“There are two primary items that restaurants and food services have that don’t typically get recycled—glass bottles and food waste,” says Harry Cohen, owner of Blue Skies Recycling in St. Louis, MO. So Cohen has signed up the St. Louis Cardinals and over 30 local restaurants to help keep these valuable commodities from going to the landfill.
In addition to the partnership with Busch Stadium operations and the local restaurants, Blue Skies also has a contract for organics and glass recycling at Edward Jones Dome convention center. At this point about 10 of the full-service bars and restaurants are recycling glass bottles. “We’re just in the process of ramping up the glass recycling. Food was where we started, but when you combine these that’s about 70% of the waste at these operations,” says Cohen.
Yellow bins are for organics and red bins for the bar areas at Busch Stadium where they recycle top-shelf liquor and beer bottles mixed. “We want to make sure we keep the glass separated so that it ends up in the right place,” says Cohen. “This is not single stream. That glass can just end up in a landfill. I really want to help the food service industry become sustainable.”
“Our primary goal is to make it easier for the foodservice industry to recycle glass. Our services, education, and training are helping them reduce their carbon footprint,” says Cohen. Blue Skies Recycling collects over 10 tons/month of mixed glass, which is taken to Strategic Materials for processing and then to glass manufacturers for new bottles and other glass products. Glass is collected in either 96-gallon carts or 20 yard roll-off containers for higher volume customers. More
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About the institute
The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) is the trade association representing the North American glass container industry. Through GPI, glass container manufacturers speak with one voice to advocate industry standards, promote sound environmental policies and educate packaging professionals. GPI member companies manufacture glass containers for food, beverage, cosmetic and many other products. GPI also has associate members that represent a broad range of suppliers and closure manufacturers.
