The Glass Recycling Company unveils new logo

The company recently screened its first television commercial, which highlights the importance of South Africans to recycle glass in order reduce the energy required to manufacture new glass from recycled glass. The commercial has received a fantastic response from viewers and led to an increase in queries and interest in recycling glass.

Of interest in the TV commercial is the fact that if each citizen recycled just one glass bottle a month, for a year, we would save 1,527,777.78kWh of power from our national grid - enough energy to power Johannesburg during peak hours.

Mobilising communities

"TGRC is now positioned as a forward looking social initiative and we will increase our focus on mobilising communities and promoting active citizenship," CEO of the company, Shabeer Jhetam, says. It is important for TGRC to be seen as an inspirational and emotive company that is innovative in showcasing a dynamic, thought provoking approach to recycling.

"Our focus is not only on consumers and their communities, but also on trade, industry and corporate South Africa. We also aim to uplift impoverished communities through job creation and skills development in the recycling sector," Jhetam continues.

"We are encouraged to see that South Africans are increasingly making the effort to recycle, reuse and even return glass for refilling. Over one billion bottles were recycled in the past year; clearly many people recognise the value and importance of this pure substance."

Highest recycled content

TGRC believes in the infinite potential of glass to make a real and positive contribution to society. Every new glass bottle and jar manufactured in SA contains 40% recycled glass. In fact, glass has the highest recycled content of all packaging in our country. The company is funded by shareholders who manufacture glass or package their products in glass.

While TGRC does not physically recycle the glass, the company strives to educate, enable, encourage and inspire communities to separate their glass for recycling daily. In fact, the team recently announced that South Africans have increased the national glass recycling rate to 40.6%.