If you own or manage a restaurant, bar or café, the chances are there is a highly recyclable resource going out the back door each night – glass. The hospitality industry is one of the biggest users of container glass (bottles and jars) in New Zealand and therefore has a big opportunity to be part of the glass recycling story.
While experience shows the industry is keen to do the right thing, both as responsible hosts and being accountable for their environmental impact, there are challenges. These are mostly linked to space restraints and a time-poor or transient workforce. However, alongside these challenges are great opportunities.
The average recycled glass content from the country’s only bottle and jar manufacturer, O-I New Zealand, was 69 percent in 2017. That means the majority of each glass container they produce is made from recycled materials.
It means fewer virgin materials are taken from the earth and, because the furnace runs cooler when using recycled glass, there are fewer emissions too. Container glass is one of the best examples of the circular economy in action as it is can be recycled over and over again.
The benefits aren’t just environmental. More and more consumers are seeking out companies, service providers and products which have sustainability at their heart. Research shows that millennials – a big part of any restaurant, bar or café’s staff and patronage – love companies that care about the environment.
The Glass Packaging Forum is dedicated to improving the quality and quantity of container glass going back to the furnace, as well as telling the sustainability story of glass packaging. The forum has more than 100 members – many of which are the very companies selling glass products glass into restaurants, bars and cafes – and they are helping to ensure their products’ packaging is kept out of landfill.
Over the past ten years, funding provided by member levies has contributed around $2 million for projects that improve outcomes for glass, such as infrastructure, plant and machinery, research and education. More projects receive funding each year.
The Glass Packaging Forum is keen to keep closing the loop and improve recycling rates in the hospitality sector. To learn more about how easy it is to recycle and be part of this sustainability story, they’d love to help. Visit www.glassforum.org.nz for more information.
