Partnership between eCullet and Owens-Illinois

United States – Leading glass manufacturer Owens-Illinois (O-I) has formed a joint venture with Californian glass processor eCullet, called Glass to Glass. The new business ‘will invest in sophisticated glass sorting equipment’ that will make more high-quality recycled glass available for use in O-I plants.

‘We believe we can improve the supply of recycled glass to our North American plants,’ says Jay Scripter, Vice President of Regional Integrated Operations for O-I’s North American activities. The partnership also offers the opportunity to reduce the company’s need for virgin materials, he comments.

A notable amount of the recycled glass collected in the region comes from single-stream recycling, thus comprising a mix of paper, metals, plastic and glass, according to Mr Scripter. This means the available glass is often found to be too contaminated to be successfully reintroduced into the manufacturing process. The improved sorting techniques offered by eCullet are therefore regarded as a solution to this problem.

According to eCullet’s CEO Craig London, glass recycling in the USA is on the increase. ‘But much of that supply requires sophisticated sorting technologies to create the quality of recycled glass required by glass manufacturers,’ he states. ‘That is our specialty and we look forward to helping Owens-Illinois use more recycled glass in its manufacturing process.’

Headquartered in Palo Alto, eCullet’s equipment yields high-end glass cullet that is colour-sorted, contaminant-free and furnace-ready.

For more information, visit: www.o-i.com and www.ecullet.com