- The glass which is disposed in the rubbish bin will reach the landfills along with all other waste.
- Glass is recycled in all the glass banks around the globe.
- Many supermarkets have glass-recycling banks, enabling you to recycle glass on your weekly shop.
- Most home recycle bins, provided by your local council, usually accept glass.
- Glass collected at the curbside is usually color separated on the vehicle or is sold as mixed glass for color separation or for use in alternative markets.
- Glass from pubs and clubs is usually collected color separated in wheeled bins, but often it is collected in mixed bins due to lack of space.
- Glass is usually separated into three colors. Brown, green and clear.
- Recycled glass contains contaminants which must be removed before it is used to make new containers. Metal, paper, plastic, organics, ceramic and pyro-ceramic must all be removed. This is done using manual inspection and high-tech equipment utilizing metal detectors, vacuums, crushers, screens, lasers, digital cameras and even x-rays to detect and remove contamination.
- Once the recycled glass has been cleaned and prepared it is mixed with raw materials and the whole process of glass product manufacturing begins again.
- Recycling glass mainly constitutes of 6 major steps:
Ø Dumping Glass
Ø Glass Collection
Ø Commercial collection
Ø Removing contaminants
Ø Container making
Ø Alternative uses.
FACTS
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Currently we landfill around 1,400,000 tonnes of glass each year. This is a real lost opportunity!
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100% of recycled glass can be used to make new glass bottles and jars, without any loss in quality.
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Green bottles are made with up to 90% recycled glass content.
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Can you believe that glass recycling in 2003 saved enough energy to launch 10 space shuttle missions?