Did you know that glass can take up 90% of the waste that is thrown out by bars, restaurants, wineries and hotels?  We think of using glass as a good thing being that it is so easy to recycle – but lots of establishments actually don’t recycle and given the varying rates of recovery for materials that are throw into the regular trash, its definitely something that needs to be improved upon.  Several states like California, Colorado, Indiana and North Carolina for example are taking the initiative to encourage these types of businesses to recycle their glass.  North Carolina has actually gone as far as to make it a requirement for retaining a liquor license and in 2008 alone, over 40,000 ton of additional glass was recycle by just those businesses in the state of NC alone!

in 2008, members of the Glass Packaging Institute set a goal of using at least 50% recycled glass in the manufacture of new glass bottles.  It is estimated that for every 10 percent of cullet used in glass manufacturing it will yield a 2 to 3 percent drop in energy costs.  It is estimated that if all the glass manufacturers that belong to GPI make their goal of using 50% recycled material that this will save enough energy to power the equivalent of 45,000 households worth of energy for a whole year!

Additionally, this saves in both natural resources (sand, soda ash and limestone) AND for every 6 tons of recycles glass reused, one LESS ton of CO2 emission is released into the atmosphere.  This could have astounding effects on the Greenhouse Effect and the health of our ozone.