Sustainability takes collaboration, and O-I is entering into new partnerships to increase recycling across the value chain. O-I, along with Anheuser-Busch, Recycle Colorado, Keep America Beautiful, The City of Greeley, and the Denver Broncos Football Club are partnering on “The Denver Series” to make it easy for people to recycle their glass in Denver area communities.
Anheuser-Busch introduced the Denver Series of its National Recycling League, which was created to reduce waste across multiple professional sports leagues and revolutionize the beverage industry’s approach to encouraging recycling.
The Denver Series kicked off in late 2023 with the introduction of colorfully branded neighborhood recycling bins designed to encourage Denver metro residents to recycle their glass bottles and jars. The bins are in several communities throughout Denver: Fort Collins, Pueblo, Greeley, and Castle Rock.
The bottles are collected from the drop-off points and taken to Denver’s Glass-to-Glass processing facility. Once processed, the recycled glass heads to O-I plants in Colorado, where it’s transformed into new glass containers, including iconic longneck beer bottles for Anheuser-Busch brands.
Getting Residents Excited about Recycling Glass Bottles and Jars
The program is a groundbreaking effort to encourage glass recycling among Denver area residents.
By introducing colorfully designed bins in Denver area communities, the program aims to achieve two core objectives: raise awareness about the intrinsic value of glass as a sustainable material and to provide residents with a convenient way to recycle their glass containers.
“The Denver Series challenge has the potential to help Colorado increase its recycling rate above the current 16%. Glass is a crucial part of the circular economy within Colorado, and we hope this program will inspire people to keep glass in circulation and out of the landfill,” said Liz Chapman, Executive Director of Recycle Colorado.
Since the program’s launch, each of the recycling bins has been filled and emptied at least once.
Generating More Recycled Glass: Why it Matters
Recycled glass isn’t just important to O-I, but also to consumers and the customers who are asking for higher recycled content in the containers that O-I makes.
Glass is made of four ingredients: sand, limestone, soda ash, and recycled glass – called cullet. Glass can be recycled over and over again without losing quality, so when residents recycle their used bottles into one of the program’s bins, they’re contributing to a circular economy.
Using recycled glass to create new glass containers makes the manufacturing process more sustainable by requiring less energy and creating fewer emissions. For every one ton of recycled glass used in the manufacturing process, more than one ton of raw materials is saved, and for every 10% of recycled glass used in the manufacturing process, energy consumption is reduced by about 3% and carbon emissions by 5%.
Increasing Glass Recycling Through Collaboration
At O-I, we understand sustainability ultimately requires the involvement and cooperation of all stakeholders in the value chain. From consumers and communities to non-profits, businesses, and beyond, everyone plays a pivotal role in supporting sustainable future.
The Denver Series is the latest example that shows sustainable solutions are possible through collaboration and teamwork. At O-I, we know that getting more recycled glass into our manufacturing system is crucial, but it’s a challenge we can’t solve alone. By joining forces with Anheuser-Busch and other partners, we’re making it easier for Denver residents to keep their glass in the loop and out of the landfill.
