O-I Glass Partners with Coca-Cola UNITED to Ensure Recycling of Glass Bottles
Coca-Coca Bottling Company UNITED is committed to creating a World Without Waste and has a goal of using 50% recycled material in their bottles by 2030. The bottling company is partnering with O-I Glass to capture more recycled glass to be created into new glass bottles.
“We previously sent our glass bottles to a local recycler that used the material in fiberglass,” says Corey Tucker, Warehouse and Logistics Manager for Coca-Cola UNITED’s Marietta, Georgia, production center. But now, the center’s recycled glass will be taken to O-I’s plant in Danville, Virginia, and remade into new glass bottles.
Glass is 100% recyclable and infinitely recyclable, making it the ideal packaging material to support a low-waste, circular economy. Recycled glass is a main ingredient in manufacturing new glass bottles and jars, and the more that’s used in each batch saves on energy and decreases emissions. O-I is committed to our 10 sustainability goals, which include increasing recycled content to 50% average by 2030.
“We started to look at all of our recyclables and where they end up. We contacted O-I because they supply our glass bottles and we learned that they have a team dedicated to increasing glass recycling,” says Tammy Stubbs, Sustainability Director for Coca-Cola UNITED. “The team at O-I is laser-focused on implementing solutions to allow more glass to be recycled and used in glass packaging.”
“Our ability to increase the average recycled content in O-I containers largely depends on the amount of recycled glass available,” says Sammy Holaschutz, recycling systems development leader at O-I. “We need others in the glass value chain – our customers, other industries and certainly consumers – to help increase glass recycling rates. The action taken by Coca-Cola UNITED to promote recycling and circularity sets a strong example.”
Through the partnership, Coca-Cola UNITED expects to recycle more than 700,000 out-of-date and damaged bottles annually. Collaborating with partners like Coca-Cola UNITED is a vital step in boosting the amount of recycled glass in the manufacturing stream and creating a more sustainable future.
