O-I Glass, one of the world’s leading manufacturers, on a global scale, of glass packaging for the food and beverage industry, in partnership with the SOStain Sicilia Foundation, officially announces the arrival on the market of “One Hundred by One Hundred Sicily” bottles.
The ‘initiative will see some of the bottles produced by the O-I plant in Marsala follow a low-waste circular economy path, in an area with historic wine production that is profitable for the GDP of the region itself (one billion of Sicily’s GDP comes from Sicilian wine production).
The project, whose intentions were already announced by O-I in 2021, was created with the aim of proposing a strategy to enhancing the market for Sicilian wines, providing glass containers – bottles specifically – the result of a virtuous, sustainable and km 0 production process. A sector, that of wine production, that is constantly expanding and evolving: more than 7,000 winemakers and 500 bottlers each year operate within a supply chain that, in 2022 alone, produced for and on Sicilian territory more than 86.5 million bottles.
“After about two years of fine-tuning, the bottles of One Hundred for One Hundred Sicily are finally a tangible part not only of our O-I plant in Marsala, but also of the supply chain of wine producers in the region, contributing concretely to the implementation of the circularity of the wine sector economy” says Massimo Noviello, CEO and President of O-I Italy S.p.A. He continues, “In an area consisting of more than 24 thousand hectares of vineyards, helping to minimize environmental impact-thanks in part to the help of our partners Impresa SARCO and the SOStain Foundation-is for us at O-I a major goal achieved, as well as an ongoing challenge that we strive to support on a daily basis“.
The bottles, which feature a customized bottom depicting a logo expressing the concept of circular economy linked to the Island, are made entirely by the O-I glassworks at the Marsala plant. Consisting of at least 90 percent recycled glass sourced solely from Sicily, these bottles are also very light, weighing only 410 g, thus ensuring energy savings from a production standpoint as well.
An integral part of the project are the citizens who carry out the sorting of waste and glass, which comes to fruition thanks to the SARCO company, sorting and cleaning it thoroughly to make it available to the O-I plant in Marsala – the only glassworks on the island – which processes it into “Cento per Cento Sicilia” bottles. In fact, the project intends to stimulate municipalities and citizens to become more aware in terms of virtuous glass recycling, encouraging them to consume more critically.
Once made, thanks to the support and partnership with the SOStain Sicilia Foundation, these bottles are delivered to the region’s wine producers, thus minimizing the impact on the region and minimizing the carbon footprint.“This is precisely the meaning of the work of the entire SOStain community: to connect the energies and skills of responsible people, to develop research projects that can concretely respond, through innovative solutions, to the sustainability needs expressed by Sicilian wine producers and consistent with the characteristics of the territory – says Alberto Tasca, president of the SOStain Sicilia Foundation. ” In this case, it was the teamwork done together with the O-I glassworks that allowed us, through the Cento per Cento Sicilia bottle , to reduce the carbon footprint related to glass transportation and thus improve our sustainability standards. An exciting result, achieved thanks to the contributions of all 40 companies to date associated with the SOStain Foundation“.
One of the most tangible examples of O-I Glass’ sustainability resides right inside the Marsala Plant. For example, the dust abated by the flue gas filter is recovered and fed back into the smelting furnace, thus avoiding the formation of waste; at the energy level, heat from the flue gas is used in Marsala to preheat the combustion air, saving energy, and water from the municipal water purifier is instead used as industrial water.
The Cento per Cento Sicilia project, along with the marketing of its bottles, aims to be an example of a sustainable economy, thus spurring those involved in the supply chain – starting with the consumer – to choose products that are sustainable and the result of tangible research to safeguard the Sicilian territory.
