Bottle Underground needs a lift!

Glass doesn’t belong in the trash! Bottle Underground is on a mission to bring glass back in the city of Philadelphia. Created by the founders of Remark Glass, Bottle Underground is a group of glass makers who just cannot stand for the waste. 

We are innovators who see glass waste for what it is: a resource. Here at Bottle Underground, we give glass a second life! 

Philadelphia’s single stream recycling sends glass straight to landfill. When residents like us place bottles and jars in our blue bins, they get crushed in the back of collections vehicles. In this form, Philly’s glass becomes worthless (and unnecessarily dangerous).

It is clear: the system needs to change. 

Help us make glass recycling in Philadelphia better! Let’s move more glass! 

Transporting glass is a challenge! A cargo elevator can give us the lift we need to do more, better!

When collected and processed separately the glass can maintain a high value and be used in various ways through reuse, recycling, upcycling, and downcycling. In the past 2 years, Bottle Underground has developed an alternative system for glass waste that keeps the material as useful as possible.

Collect, recirculate, repeat.

Community members and businesses donate glass bottles and jars through our drop-off and collections programs. By partnering with small-businesses and local organizations, we find new homes for all the glass that comes through our facility!

• Upcycle: Unique bottles go to our partner Remark Glass for upcycling in the hot glass studio.
• Reuse: Jars are cleaned before being used by local skincare makers for lotions.
• Downcycle: Beer bottles are run through our glass crusher to be made into a sand alternative that will be used for rain gardens. 

Last year we processed 50,000 lbs of waste glass through our closed loop system. All of it went on to be used again. Now, it’s time for BU to scale, increase our impact and divert more waste from landfill.

Let’s do more together!

Do you want to see a more efficient system for waste in Philadelphia? Let’s start together with glass- it’s completely recyclable! 

Bottle Underground operates in the basement of the BOK building. Right now, it’s a labor of love to get all of this material into and out of our workspace. Our team walks to-and-from the loading deck up to 10x a day! While we love meeting you – the change-makers – we also want to make your lives (and ours) a little more convenient. 

By installing a lift in our loading dock, we can reduce your wait time and increase the time we spend recycling glass! 

Transforming Philadelphia, Creating Rain Gardens

We’re collaborating with a local landscape architecture firm to pilot a “soil-less” soil composed of glass and compost. Through this EPA-funded study we will be able to install processing equipment that can turn glass bottles and jars into nontoxic, water absorbent sand that filters water for ground stormwater infrastructure and creating rain gardens. 

In order to accomplish this sustainable project, our goal is to reorganize our facility and scale to take on more material and increase our impact to our goal of 250 tons (or .0025%) of Philly’s glass waste per year in the next 12 months.

A lift will help us accomplish this and become even more efficient in our future projects! With your help we can radically transform the recycling industry into one motivated by environmental sustainability, not profit.

Our Goals

We need to purchase a cargo lift to load glass in and out of our basement space efficiently, a garage door opener to avoid that rusty chain that slowly opens it now and some bins to make loading in and out possible. Here are our goals:

Bottle Underground needs A LIFT!  $30,000*

Your support will make it possible for us to purchase and install a cargo lift outside of our space while we reorganize how we accept and process glass donations. After our upgrades, the drop off process will be more convenient and more efficient! 

Bottle Underground needs a DROP BOX $8,000*

A glass drop off box will live on top of the lift so you can drop off any time during our drop off slots and keep the donations coming. 

Bottle Underground needs to OPEN UP!  $3,000*

We are looking for a garage door opener to avoid the rusty chain slow opener.  Investing in our infrastructure is investing in the future of recycling in Philadelphia. 

Bottle Underground needs to MOVE MORE! $10,000*

With more bins, carts, and conveyors to help schlep glass, we can move more, make more change, process more glass.

If this campaign exceeds our wildest dreams, we will purchase a bottle washing machine to sanitize jars like mason jars and continue to make them available for reuse by locals and small businesses. 

Get your BU!

Besides contributing toward our city stepping closer to a better system for waste glass, we’ve designed some perks for you to enjoy as you donate toward our goals! 

• Stickers, t-shirts, and upcycled glassware
• Participate in our crate exchange program
• And more!

*Please note that Bottle Underground is a 501(c)(3), all donations, beyond the retail price of merchandise exchanged, are tax deductible*

Learn more about Bottle Underground

Bottle Underground, a 501(c)(3), is supported by the team at Remark Glass and the help of volunteers and high school interns. The nonprofit is building revenue by offering glass collections to households and businesses in surrounding zip codes, and selling processed glass to local brands.

Our Impact

Glass isn’t trash, and we can do better. Bottle Underground is on a mission to create a closed loop glass processing facility for glass in Philadelphia. Since BU was formed in 2020, we’ve increased our glass intake 900%, from 700 lbs per month to 7000 lbs each month. By collecting information at drop offs, we’re able to show the impact that BU has accomplished toward our goals:

Divert glass waste from landfills, by creating a circular economy that benefits our community and environment. Bottle Underground diverted over 50,000 lbs of glass from landfill in 2021. In 2022, we expect to divert over 50 tons (100,000 lbs).

Reinvest in the local economy by providing small businesses with access to salvaged containers. In 2021, we processed over 4,000 bottles and jars for use in local businesses, such as candle and body product containers.

Offer a closed loop recycling solution to Philadelphians and local businesses who wish to participate in a circular economy. Last year, we accepted over 800 glass donations through our free drop offs and our local e-bike collections program. Over 90% of our donations come from a less than 10 mile radius from BU.  

With your help, we’ll double our impact this year and be able to keep growing from there.

Our Challenges

Our biggest risk is an even bigger mess.

Underground, BU is a complicated work environment. Our team has been working for years by hand, one bottle at a time, to make this dream a reality. Currently, we process glass one by one––from sorting bottles, to washing them to packing them. Our workspace is a sea of bottles and boxes.

We’re embarking on a redesign of how we use our space so that we can strengthen our closed loop operation in order to increase the amount of glass waste. In order to increase the amount of glass waste we can accept from the community, it’s time to automate our process. Now we need to push to get our operations up to a scale that can make an impact!

Other Ways You Can Help

Bottle Underground could use a lift, but that’s not the only way to help on this issue.

Of course if you’re nearby, 

• Give new life to your glass by dropping it off, or join our collections program! (Community glass drop offs are free, but we encourage donations to support our work.)
• Come in and help! We have volunteer slots a few days a week now! 

Glass waste is inexcusable everywhere. Wherever you are you can engage:

• Follow us through our instagram @bottleunderground to see the posts, stories, and reels as we grow.
• Do your best! BU believes in the power of starting small.
• Support any local circular project making products from waste.
• Know what is really being recycled in your area, and recycle it with care.
• Look into the glass waste system near you to see what is happening to this resource.
• Reach out to politicians that control the waste in your area to express your interest in sustainable waste management.