Sustainability is becoming a key lifestyle priority for consumers and it impacts their attitudes towards packaging. Unlike any other material, glass has an endless lifeline.

• Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times.
• The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will light a 60-watt bulb for four hours.
• Based on the volume of recycled bottles O-I uses in one year, O-I estimates that it could power the streetlights of the New York City metropolitan area for a full year based on the amount of energy savings.
• A glass bottle can go from the recycling bin, through the recycling system and appear on a store shelf again in as little as 30 days.

When a homeowner drops off his or her recycling bin at the curb, the glass inside may not make it to the recycling center. New data from O-I shows that of the 17+ million tons of cullet (recycled glass) entering the North American waste stream each year, only about 25 percent is recycled – much of the remaining glass ends up in landfills. Of the 2.5 million tons of cullet that is recovered and processed, O-I claims approximately 1.08 million tons for reuse, while others in the industry claim the remaining. 

Simply stated, changes in the recycling process in recent years have caused a decrease of available cullet. The cullet usage rate would increase if glass manufacturers were able to attain high-quality, color-separated materials from the post-consumer waste stream. Even with a 10 percent increase in cullet in North America alone, O-I would save approximately 77,041 tons of carbon emissions.

Cullet Chart
Recycling Locator on Earth911