NEW YORK — Diageo North America announces 2.2 million pounds of glass collected in its first-year partnership with ‘Don’t Trash Glass’ in Illinois and is now expanding to the state of Kentucky. Don’t Trash Glass is a campaign in collaboration with the Glass Packaging Institute and GlassKing Recovery & Recycling, to encourage more bars, restaurants and local businesses to collect used glass bottles and improve regional recycling rates.
In 2021, Diageo opened its first carbon neutral distillery in Lebanon, Ky. The site supports 30 full-time local jobs while also sourcing 100% non-GMO corn locally. The 72,000-s.f. facility can produce up to 10 million proof gallons per year and distills Bulleit Bourbon using electrode boilers that are powered by 100% renewable electricity throughout the cooking, distillation, and dry house processes. Bulleit is the lead brand being produced at the Diageo Lebanon Distillery – supplementing existing production at the Bulleit Distilling Co. in Shelbyville, Ky.
Initiatives like Don’t Trash Glass have the potential to improve glass recycling rates in states. Per U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) statistics, the overall glass recycling rate in America is 31.3%. A more recent analysis indicates that Illinois and Kentucky are both below the national average.
According to a 2023 “50 States of Recycling” report, Kentucky has a 15% glass recycling rate. The Don’t Trash Glass program is expected to start in the state this spring and support efforts to increase glass recycling in the region.
Investing in circular economy
The Don’t Trash Glass pilot program launched in 2021 in the Greater Chicago area. A 2023 partnership with Diageo’s Smirnoff brand supported the collection of ready-to-recycle glass from bars, restaurants and local businesses. Once collected, bottles are stored temporarily to eventually be processed by regional glass suppliers, aiming to keep this material out of landfills.
In 2023 the program collected more than 2.2 million pounds of glass from more than 50 businesses. As Don’t Trash Glass continues to grow the number of establishments participating in Illinois, more cities have joined the campaign including Evanston, Rosemont, and Waukegan.
“This partnership with Diageo North America has been critical to ensure we’re showing more local businesses how easy it is to recycle glass in their community,” said Scott DeFife, president of the Glass Packaging Institute. “Not only that, but we’re seeing more interest from more cities and local officials across the state of Illinois which demonstrates scaling the program is possible.”
Since 2019, Diageo has invested nearly $290 million in Kentucky and its operations support over 1,700 jobs in the state across the distribution, retail and hospitality sectors. Diageo actively participates in the thriving bourbon economy and operates multiple sites in Kentucky, including a first-of-its-kind carbon-neutral Bulleit distillery in Lebanon, the Bulleit Distilling Company and Visitor Experience in Shelbyville and Stitzel-Weller in Louisville.
More sustainable packaging
Improving circularity and reducing waste are priorities for Diageo and its brands. The efforts from the ‘Don’t Trash Glass’ program contribute to the company’s commitment to increase recycled content and reimagine its iconic glass packaging –key pillars of Diageo’s approach to sustainability outlined in its ten-year action plan, ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress’. Other initiatives to transform the company’s packaging footprint in North America include:
- Reducing weight in Diageo’s primary scotch portfolio by moving some of our bottles into standard, more lightweight formats.
- Last fiscal year, Diageo removed 141 million cartons from some of its Johnnie Walker and other scotch brands across the world. In North America, this effort began with Johnnie Walker Black, Johnnie Walker Double Black, Buchanan’s Deluxe 12 YO and Buchanan’s Master.
- Over the past several years, the company has removed over 600 tons of corrugated cardboard packaging by optimizing its carton dividers and shipping boxes in North America.
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan’s whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness.
