“Cento per Cento Sicilia” bottles arrived

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 “Cento per Cento Sicilia” 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 had already been announced by O-I in 2021, was created with the aim of proposing a strategy to enhance the market for Sicilian wines, providing glass containers - bottles specifically - that are the result of a virtuous, sustainable and km 0 production process. A sector, that of wine production, which 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 the Sicilian territory more than 86.5 million bottles.

"After about two years of fine-tuning, Cento per Cento Sicilia bottles 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 circularity in the wine sector's economy," says Massimo Noviello, CEO and Chairman of O-I Italy S p.A. He continues, "In an area made up of more than 24 thousand hectares of vineyards, helping to minimize environmental impact-thanks also to the help of our partners Impresa SARCO and SOStain Foundation-is for us at O-I a great goal achieved, as well as an ongoing challenge that we are committed to supporting 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 citizens who carry out waste and glass sorting, 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 transforms it into "Cento per Cento Sicilia" bottles. In fact, the project aims to stimulate municipalities and citizens to become more aware in terms of virtuous glass recycling, incentivizing them to greater critical consumption.

Once made, thanks to the support and partnership with the SOStain Sicilia Foundation, these bottles are delivered to wine producers in the region, thus minimizing the impact on the territory and reducing the carbon footprint to a minimum. "This is precisely what the work of the entire SOStain community is all about: connecting the energies and skills of responsible people to develop research projects that manage to respond concretely, 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 linked to the transport of glass and thus improve our sustainability standards. An exciting result, achieved thanks to the contribution 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, dust abated by the flue gas filter is recovered and fed back into the melting 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.