Sustainable Glass Recycling with Orora Beverage

Sustainable Glass Recycling with Orora Beverage

Sustainable Glass Recycling with Orora Beverage video, click here to play:

Learn about glass recycling with Orora Beverage

Glass recycling is an important step within the manufacturing process, where used glass packaging is taken to create new glass products that help create a sustainable circular economy.

Before container deposit schemes and curbside recycling facilities were available in Australia, beverages were packaged in returnable bottles. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that Australian legislation was introduced to start retrieving recycled materials.

Today, glass waste is used to create new glass bottles through the process of beneficiation. Here at Orora we collect recycled glass from container deposit schemes, which is then processed on site at our Glass Beneficiation Plant to create cullet.

Cullet is processed from recycled glass that has been crushed and refined to remove contaminates. From here, we transfer this to the glass production plant to be put through furnaces and created into new glass containers.

In the above video, we interviewed Greg Savage, Orora Beverage Glass General Manager, about the glass recycling process and Orora’s strategy to creating sustainable glass packaging.

For every single tonne of glass of recycled glass put into our [manufacturing] process, we displace 1.2 tonnnes of raw material” – Greg Savage, Orora Beverage Glass General Manager

The great thing about glass is that we can continue to create new glass packaging as it’s infinitely recyclable. This means glass can be recycled over and over again without any loss of quality!

Leading the way in sustainable beverage packaging

Orora is proud to be one of Australia's leading sustainable beverage packaging manufacturers, where we take recycled content to create new glass products.

To support our continued commitment to creating sustainable beverage packaging, we recently opened our new $25m Glass Beneficiation Plant in Gawler, South Australia.

Every 10% of recycled glass that is entered into the manufacturing process again reduces co2 emissions by about 5%. And energy usage is reduced by about 3%”

Orora’s promise to the future and our commitment to sustainability is a long-term endeavour to ensure our products are continuingly becoming more sustainable.

Learn more about Orora's approach to sustainability.