The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) has released details of its first complete cradle-to-cradle life cycle assessment (LCA) of glass for packaging, which highlights the environmental benefits of container glass recycling.

The cradle-to-cradle scope of the study covers the entire life cycle of the product, including the environmental cost of recycling used glass to create new glass. The study announces that using cullet to make new glass reduces both energy use and carbon emissions.

“In creating more recycling awareness and working to improve recycled glass collection, the industry is helping boost the cullet content in manufacturing,” explains Joseph Cattaneo, President of the Glass Packaging Institute. “The study shows increased cullet helps reducing energy emissions, conserve raw materials, extend the life of glass manufacturing furnaces, and save energy,” he added.

While other industries claim that the transportation of glass bottles has a bigger environmental impact because of the weight of the containers, a key finding of the LCA dismisses this claim. The transportation of raw materials and cullet used in glass production represents less than 4 to 5% of the total energy used to produce container glass.