Knauf Insulation, Inc., the official glass recycling partner of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, celebrated an exciting weekend culminating with Scott Dixon winning his 53rd career INDYCAR race. Dixon’s win through the streets of Nashville was not the only thing to celebrate. After a month-long glass recycling initiative, Knauf collected more than 15,000 pounds of glass from nine of the most well-known downtown Nashville establishments such as Honky Tonk Central and Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in addition to the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix race campus at Nissan Stadium. Rather than winding up in a landfill, these bottles will be recycled into a raw material used in the manufacturing of Knauf’s energy-efficient building insulation.

“We viewed this partnership with the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix as an opportunity to introduce race fans to Knauf Insulation while bringing awareness to the importance of glass recycling. It was a bonus to see Turn 2 decked out in Knauf blue,” said Nathan Walker, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience. “We believe this partnership will lay the foundation for larger initiatives with the city of Nashville and we plan to enroll more U.S. cities in the future.”

Knauf estimates the continuation of an expanded glass recycling program with the city of Nashville will divert 75,000 tons of glass from landfills to a Knauf facility annually. The recycled glass will then be converted into enough fiberglass insulation to provide thermal and acoustical comfort in more than 177,000 homes.

Given the company requires over 500 million pounds of recycled glass annually to support operations, Knauf is deeply invested in improving glass recycling rates across North America. In addition to diverting 50 tons of glass from landfills every hour, the use of this type of recyclable has additional environmental benefits including lowering the amount of energy necessary for manufacturing and decreasing the usage of mined minerals.

“It was fantastic to partner with a global brand who is a leader in the manufacturing of sustainable building materials. Knauf takes their values and places them into action,” said Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Founder and CEO, Matt Crews. “We know our hometown of Nashville appreciates this impactful program which will keep glass bottles out of our landfills and transform them into environmentally-friendly building products.”

"We are very excited that Knauf and Big Machine Music City Grand Prix partnered with our bars on Broadway to recycle glass bottles," said Jeanna Puskar, General Manager of Honky Tonk Central. "Not only did we provide great entertainment for our guests, but we take pride in knowing we helped make the planet a better place one bottle at a time.”