Kentucky is well known for its bourbon, but until recently it wasn’t as well known for its glass recycling capabilities. A bottle maker is partnering with the spirits industry and a nonprofit on what organizers say is the state’s first dedicated glass recycling program to turn discarded spirits bottles into new glass containers.
A $350,000 glass processing initiative, launched in late August, is a partnership between O-I Glass, workforce program Workwell Industries and distillers Suntory Global Spirits, Diageo North America and Pernod Ricard.
Workwell Industries will now clean, sort and process clear spirit bottle glass into cullet, then sell it to O-I Glass. The project is expected to generate about 1,200 to 1,400 tons of glass per year, “but I think they will far surpass that amount. We’ll take as much as they can possibly generate,” said Bob Hippert, sustainability strategy leader for manufacturing at O-I.
Workwell Industries approached O-I a few years ago with the idea to start up a glass processing center, Hippert said. The nonprofit, which provides job opportunities for people who experience barriers to employment, regularly works with the spirits industry to package their products. Workwell was looking for a way to manage end-of-life glass.
Generating a local supply of clean cullet is important for O-I because of its goal to reach 50% recycled content in containers by 2030. Though Kentucky previously did not have a major glass recycling presence, recent investments in the local bourbon and whiskey market present a growing opportunity for furnace-ready cullet, Hippert said.
“As [businesses] are building the infrastructure for growing these markets, more glass is being brought into the state,” Hippert said. “It makes sense for that to be collected to get it back to where it can be re-melted.”
Later this year, O-I also expects to open a new greenfield glass manufacturing facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky, “and we want to be able to run at a high level of recycled content,” he said.
Another upside to the new Kentucky recycling partnership, he said, is that it will provide O-I with a high-quality flint glass, the kind most clear spirits bottles are made from. O-I also operates cullet processing facilities in Denver and in Portland, Oregon, but the quality of the glass it purchases varies. Portland’s glass comes from the state’s deposit return system, meaning it’s much cleaner than the glass O-I buys from MRFs in the Denver region.
O-I and the three distillers contributed about 70% of the total cost of the project, Hippert said, and O-I also consulted on what kind of glass crusher and conveyor the workforce center ultimately purchased.
“If we can show that we can do this [recycling partnership] at a smaller scale, there's opportunities to increase what Workwell can do, or future investments in the state of Kentucky to address the lack of glass processing in the state,” he said.
The project, dubbed RecycWell, is also expected to create up to 10 permanent full-time jobs in the Louisville area, according to Workwell Industries CEO Kenya Freeman. In a LinkedIn post, Freeman also praised Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear for supporting the program.
The governor attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Workwell’s new program last week, where he noted that the new recycling center was an “exciting next step in the commonwealth’s mission of sustainability and workforce development.”
Beshear sees the recycling program as going hand-in-hand with the state’s overall job growth and the growth of the bourbon industry. Last week, he highlighted a planned $92.5 million Saga Spirits distillery project, which the state expects to boost tourism and generate about 89 new jobs.
The Recycling Partnership estimates the residential recycling rate for glass containers in Kentucky is about 13%, compared with an estimated 27% nationally.
Meanwhile, commercial glass collection program Don’t Trash Glass, supported by the Glass Packaging Institute, announced in March it would expand into Kentucky. Diageo North America is also involved in that program.
