The South African glass industry will take on glass collection for recycling following the decision by New Reclamation Group (Reclam) subsidiary Enviroglass to abandon the activity in order to focus on its core business of recycling scrap metal. The glass industry, together with The Glass Recycling Company, a non profit organisation started by glass industry companies, has acted on the issue of glass banks that have not been emptied & contingency plans are in place, said Consol Group MD Mike Arnold. Consol is a shareholder in The Glass Recycling Company. Enviroglass has given approval for its banks to be taken over and serviced, and has made vehicles available to the industry for rental to service the glass banks. So far, about 500 bottle banks in Gauteng and 300 in Western Cape have been identified and divided into regions for emptying and cleaning. Glass lying outside the banks is also being removed. Mr. Arnold says The Glass Recycling Company has notified Consol of critical sites that need immediate attention based on complaints to the call centre. The interruption is not expected to affect glass industry use as the shortage experienced in 2007 has been resolved. South African Breweries (SAB) says it does not expect to be affected by Reclam's move. Communications manager Janine Van Stolk says most of its sales are through returnable bottles. SAB is also a stakeholder in the The Glass Recycling Company. About 95% of its beer is sold in glass, about 80% of which is in returnable bottles.
