The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) is a trade association

Trade association

A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...

 for the U.S. glass

Glass

Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...

 container

Packaging and labelling

Packaging is the science, art, and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Packaging can be described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for transport,...

 industry. Headquartered in Washington, DC, GPI lobbies

Lobbying

Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...

 on behalf of its members, while providing them with technical, promotional and public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 support. Although primarily a United States organization, GPI does count members in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

GPI maintains a widely used technical standard for the screw thread

Screw thread

A screw thread, often shortened to thread, is a helical structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force. A screw thread is a ridge wrapped around a cylinder or cone in the form of a helix, with the former being called a straight thread and the latter called a tapered thread...

s used for the closure of glass bottles.

Organization

GPI's Board of Trustees is the core decision-making body in the organization. It is made up of representatives from each of the glass container manufacturing member companies, as well as two representatives from the associate member companies (supplier member companies). The Trustees meet semi-annually for budget, agenda and future planning purposes.

The Glass Packaging Institute recently elected L. Richard Crawford, President of Global Glass Operations, O-I, as the glass container association’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees for a one-year term. Joseph Cattaneo serves as the trade association's President.

The Board is supplemented with a series of committees, including a Marketing Task Force Committee, Government Affairs Committee, Membership Committee and Drawing and Specifications Committee.

Other activities include the annual presentation of a "Clear Choice" award, given for creative glass packaging.