By Kelly Jad'on

Recycling is fundamental to growing societies.  Throughout history, our forefathers have consistently reused and repurposed materials—bones, furs, cloth.

The only truly 100% recyclable packaging material is glass.  There is no loss in its quality when recycled –recycling time ideally is only 30 days from the bin to another store shelf, if circumstances are right.

Consumers prefer to purchase products held in glass containers because a food or beverage’s integrity is not compromised by the packaging.  Glass is created from natural sustainable raw materials like sand, ash, limestone, and cullet (recycled glass).

The United States boasts 50 glass container manufacturing plants.  There are also four in Canada and 15 in Mexico.  Most glass containers (75%) utilized in North America are created in these 65 facilities.  The Glass Packaging Institute writes that of 288 billion containers were shipped worldwide in 2007, 35 billion of them specifically from the U.S. market.  Beer, for instance, is one of the world’s oldest and most widely consumed beverages, 56% of the glass container market belongs to beer bottling.

The third largest producer of glass containers in North America is Anchor Glass Container Corporation, (incorporated 1997).  Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, it runs eight facilities, employees approximately 2,900, and manufacturers many types of containers for Anheuser Busch, Yoohoo, Snapple, Samuel Adams, and other companies.  All of their raw materials come from the United States.

Of glass bottles returned in 2007, only 34.5% of beer and soda bottles were recycled.  28.1% of all glass containers were.  Recycling rates are higher in states like Michigan and California where there are mandatory beverage container deposits.  Unfortunately, only 11 states follow this practice: Oregon, Vermont, Maine, Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware, New York, and Hawaii. (Most states exclude wine and liquor bottles though.)

Bars and restaurants are another source of recyclable glass.  In North Carolina, there is a law which requires these types of businesses to recycle.  Colorado and California are encouraging the practice at a grass roots level through wineries, breweries, and glass marketing. 

Returned glass containers are referred to as “cullet.”  When they are returned, environmental benefits include:

• Savings in raw materials
• 2-3% in energy costs drop
• A ton of carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) is eliminated for six tons of recycled glass used.

The essential problem is that not enough cullet exists.  By 2013, the goal of the glass manufacturing industry is to ramp up their usage of cullet to 50%.  To meet this mark, various strategies are being supported by the glass trade association:

1. Separation:  glass must be separated from other recyclables to ensure usage. (Metal lids don't meld well with glass in a furnace.)  Just unscrewing lids from jars isn't enough.  Glass material must be separated into another bin.

2. Bar and restaurant recycling needs to be amplified regionally.  These businesses use tremendous amounts of bottled beverages.  This can include wine and liquor glass containers as well.

3. Retailers and grocers must be encouraged to support bottle bills.  Traditionally they dislike having to sanitize and store returned bottles while waiting for recyclers to pick them up.  However, bottle depots and kiosks have been successfully used in large parking lots for this purpose.  They are usually unmanned as reverse vending machines (RVM). 

Only 11 states have supported these measures.  What's holding the others back?

This past year (Mar 2009), Rep.  Kevin  J. G.  Rader  (FL-D) sponsored HB 485 Beverage Container Deposits bill.  It died in the Agriculture & Natural Resources Policy Committee.

Yet, the Energy, Climate Change, and Economic Security Act of 2008 (House Bill 7135) signed into law by Governor Charlie Crist (Section 403.7032, Florida Statutes), establishes a new statewide recycling goal of 75% to be achieved by the year 2020.

Florida's Department of Environmental Protection is directed to develop a program to achieve this goal and submit it to the Legislature for consideration by January 1, 2010.

States which have included a bottle recycling bill have seen increased revenues, a reduction of pollution, and a new green industry develop.

At this time the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) states that 10-19% of beverage containers are being recycled.  "States that have enacted beverage container deposit programs have beverage container recycling rates of 69-95%." 

BottleBill.org indicates that beverage containers make up 40-60% of litter.  If Florida instituted the law, they would see;

Litter reduction of 30-65%

Creation of redemption centers--private industry

Savings in energy and raw materials, costs and carbon emission reductions

Distributors and bottlers would receive revenue from unredeemed deposits possibly totaling over $40 million

New jobs--haulers, recyclers, vending machine manufacturing, maintenance

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Kelly Jad'on is the founder of www.BasilAndSpice.com, a content provider to online news organizations.

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