Recently, I was enjoying a beverage from a glass bottle when I noticed a label I hadn’t seen before. It read: “Please go out of your way to recycle this bottle.” In this case, a recycling bin was within walking distance, so it was a no-brainer for me. Glass is, after all, 100% endlessly recyclable, never losing strength or purity. Yet our glass recycling rates in the U.S. are still unacceptably low, hovering around 31%. Luckily, September is Recycle Glass Month, a month-long glass recycling education and awareness program produced by the Glass Packaging Institute with 55 events spanning 20 states. The message is simple: keep glass out of landfills, save energy and save our valued resources. After all, recycling a glass bottle is not difficult; consumers are just unfortunately careless when disposing of their waste. Recycle Glass Month aims to change that fact. Even if you do not attend an event, you can still learn valuable facts and find local resources to help you recycle your glass more efficiently. You can even show your support for the program by purchasing Recycle Glass Month apparel and accessories from a themed CafePress e-store. A nifty carbon calculator on the Recycle Glass Month website provides an eye-opening numerical value to your current glass recycling pace. Just recycling that one glass bottle saved enough energy to:

• Light a compact florescent bulb for: 7 hours 8 minutes;
• light a standard 60-watt light bulb for: 1 hour 40 minutes;
• operate a computer for: 20 minutes; and
• operate a TV for: 13 minutes.

Clearly, every glass recycling effort makes a major difference, so do your part this month and encourage your family, co-workers, peers and community members to recycle their glass! For more information on Recycle Glass Month events, ‘Like’ the program’s Facebook page. To find a glass recycling location near you, enter your ZIP code into the recycling location finder.