Officials in Australia announced the expansion of a program to recycle glass bottles because of the program's overwhelming success.
According to Glam Adelaide, New South Wales and South Australia announced they will grow the scheme to provide deposits for glass wine and spirit bottles as well as other large beverage containers.
Under South Australia's 50-year-old project, 660 million drink containers are returned every year, while the New South Wales program, started in 2017, has resulted in the return of 14 billion containers, with 660 drop-off points around the state.
"The Container Deposit Scheme is fantastic for the environment, great for our recycling industry, and also puts money back in people's pockets," NSW Minister for Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Heritage Penny Sharp said. "By expanding to include more types of beverages, it's estimated at least 27,000 tonnes of material will be saved from landfill each year in NSW."
Glass bottles remain perhaps the most environmentally friendly beverage containers, largely because they aren't created with dirty energy sources. They are also very easily recycled and reused without any degradation of the product.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, recycling glass reduces the amount of air pollution produced in the glass-making process by 20% and cuts the water pollution produced by 50%. Recycling glass also takes less energy than creating it new, reducing the amount of planet-heating fuels used in its creation.
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Australia isn't the only place that's pushing such recycling plans. German grocery store chain Aldi runs a similar program in Ireland, and it has shown such promising results that the company is expanding the program significantly.
The states plan to have infrastructure in place by 2027 to receive the additional types of bottles, and they are working to address concerns from small businesses. Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory will enact similar changes.
"We will assist the wine and spirit industry with this transition and will work with the industry to ensure the least-cost, simplest approach possible, with a special focus on assisting smaller operations," South Australian Deputy Premier and Minister for Climate, Environment, and Water Susan Close said.
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