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SACRAMENTO – A pilot
project designed to promote a clean
supply of recycled glass for California
bottle manufacturers gets an Earth Day
kick-off Saturday in Pasadena.
Forged through a
partnership of the state Department of
Conservation, the Glass Packaging
Institute, local waste hauler/recycler
the Allan Company, and the City of
Pasadena, the 18-month effort aims to
collect and recycle empty bottles from
Pasadena bars and restaurants while
reducing contamination that lowers the
volume and quality of recycled glass.
“We want to establish
a model that can be used in other
communities to increase the amount of
good, clean, recycled glass available
for use in new containers,” said DOC
director Bridgett Luther. “By focusing
our resources in a specific area, we’ll
get a better understanding of what works
well and how we can improve glass
collection and recycling throughout the
state.”
A portion of a grant
from DOC to GPI funded collection bins
and a specially designed collection
truck for use in the project. The Allan
Company will market the program to bars
and restaurants and service the
collection route. Businesses can
participate free of charge, and may even
see a reduction in their waste hauling
bills by virtue of having lower volumes
for disposal.
“The hope is that a
successful bar and restaurant recycling
program will be a win-win for recycling
and the participating businesses,” said
Joe Cattaneo, president of GPI, the
trade association for the North American
glass container manufacturing industry (www.gpi.org).
“We believe there is a good quantity of
clean glass going unrecycled from bars
and restaurants. Getting whole bottles
that are separated from other containers
is a primary goal.”
More than 3 billion
glass California Redemption Value
beverage containers are sold in
California each year, but more than a
billion of them typically end up in
landfills. Glass can be recycled over
and over again, saving energy and
natural resources while providing
valuable raw materials to manufacturers.
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