In the heart of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, a simple yet powerful initiative is transforming how a community thinks about waste, resources and giving back. Glass4Good™, an O-I glass recycling program rooted in circularity and hometown pride, is turning recycled glass into tangible impact, one glass bottle at a time.
Of O-I’s 20 glass recycling community programs in the U.S., the team at the Brockway-Crenshaw plants have grown their Glass4Good™ into an expansive community partnership. What sets it apart isn’t just the volume of recycled glass collected, but the way employees and the community have embraced it.
“We take glass that’s either donated through the community or by local businesses,” said Ryan Fox, Brockway-Crenshaw Plant LEHR Quality Controller. “We take that, and the proceeds and everything, go back to our community.”
While Glass4Good™ originated as a corporate sustainability initiative, it found strong roots in Brockway and Crenshaw. According to Danielle Brickner, O-I Sustainability Collaboration Specialist, the program’s expansion into the community happened naturally.
“Jefferson County already had a robust recycling system, and we had a solution for their glass, ensuring it remained in the manufacturing stream,” Brickner explained.
“Glass4Good™ was started by a small group of O-I employees from our headquarters, and Brockway-Crenshaw was an easy expansion opportunity because they already had the means to collect glass.”
Since 2021, Jefferson County has operated 14 recycling collection sites that now bring their recycled glass bottles and jars to the O-I plant, along with new sites in three neighbouring counties. And what’s really impressive is that the Brockway-Crenshaw leadership team didn’t wait for direction. Instead, they created their own system for collecting glass packaging from local bars and restaurants.
The Brockway-Crenshaw team’s efforts don’t just keep glass in the manufacturing loop; they also generate real benefits for the people they know and care about in the community. Since its inception in 2021, the Jefferson County Glass4Good™ program has generated over USD 25,000 in donations to local organisations, including the Brockway Area School District.
That type of community investment underscores the “for good” in Glass4Good™.