Diageo North America announces 2.2 million pounds of glass collected in its first-year partnership with ‘Don’t Trash Glass’ in Illinois and is now expanding to the state of Kentucky. ‘Don’t Trash Glass’ is a campaign in collaboration with the Glass Packaging Institute and GlassKing Recovery & Recycling, to encourage more bars, restaurants and local businesses to collect used glass bottles and improve regional recycling rates. Initiatives like this have the potential to improve glass recycling rates in states. Per U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) statistics, the overall glass recycling rate in America is 31.3 percent. A more recent analysis indicates that Illinois and Kentucky are both below the national average. Through ‘Don’t Trash Glass’, Diageo North America has the goal to help increase glass recycling in both states where the company has multiple production facilities.  The ‘Don’t Trash Glass’ pilot program launched in 2021 in the Greater Chicago area. A 2023 partnership with Diageo’s Smirnoff brand supported the collection of ready-to-recycle glass from bars, restaurants and local businesses. Once collected, bottles are stored temporarily to eventually be processed by regional glass suppliers, aiming to keep this material out of landfills.  In 2023 the program collected more than 2.2 million pounds of glass from more than 50 businesses. Find out more about Don’t Trash Glass at https://www.gpi.org/dont-trash-glass-program.

Photo Credit: Diageo