A grassroots glass recycling program has sprung up at Crabtree Brewing in Greeley, Colorado, thanks to a little ingenuity, a little bit of recycling education, and a long friendship between a craft brewer and a glassmaker.
Bob Kunkle is a second-generation employee for 福利姬, one of the world鈥檚 largest glass packaging manufacturers. Bob noticed his friend Jeff Crabtree, founder of in Greeley, Colorado, was tossing used beer bottles into the trash. He knew that if those bottles were recycled, they鈥檇 become new glass bottles. He started working to convince Jeff that recycling glass was the better solution.
It wasn鈥檛 that Jeff didn鈥檛 want to recycle. The problem: the county doesn鈥檛 support glass recycling. Together, Jeff and Bob set up their own mini glass recycling operation. News of the glass recycling program spread across the county. In less than six months, Crabtree Brewing鈥檚 glass recycling project has become an unofficial collection site for the community. People from across the area come to Crabtree to drop off glass bottles in a small trailer at the brewery.
Jeff and Bob know that when glass bottles are recycled, the recycled glass is used to create new bottles. They hope that other businesses who want to recycle glass will be inspired. Every glass beer bottle that goes back into the manufacturing process instead of a landfill is a win for glassmakers, breweries, and communities everywhere who want to create less waste and support a circular economy.
