The Glass Packaging Institute is developing a leasing model to help more materials recycling facilities (MRFs) finance glass cleanup systems. The initiative, which may be rolled out by the autumn, is part of GPI’s work to support MRFs in implementing best practices to recover clean, recyclable glass for bottle manufacturing. It comes after the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) unveiled its own lease-to-own financing model in June to help MRFs install aluminium can sorting equipment.

“It’s really kind of a lease payback system where you do consider the value of the commodity – the increased value of the commodity that’s coming out – and for a couple of years you use that differential to help repay the investment,” said Scott DeFife GPI President.

The Glass Recycling Coalition, which was formed by GPI, created the MRF Glass Certification Program, through which sorting facilities that install equipment and follow glass sorting best practices can earn recognition for their efforts.

“It’s not necessarily difficult or rocket science to clean up the glass in order to give it better value, but very few of the facilities have gone that extra mile to do that,” explained Mr DeFife.

The GPI is working with consulting and research firm Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) on data that will help develop “some innovative financial loan and/or fronting money kind of partnerships to help encourage MRFs to install the glass equipment sooner rather than later,” Mr DeFife said, “I am very hopeful that we’ll be ready to deploy this tool or that it will get deployed in some sort of partnership soon.”

www.gpi.org

Caption: The glass recycling loop needs quality glass from MRFs.