Glass recycling is the process of taking old glass products and turning them into new glass products. Glass can be recycled forever without losing its purity or strength. Glass is a material recycled by many curbside collection programs, and it is also accepted at most municipal recycling centers. Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass. Glass makes up approximately 10% of the garbage that is in landfills. A glass bottle can take up to one million years to breakdown. Americans recycle about 13 million glass jars and bottles everyday. Eleven states have passed a “bottle bill” which pays you a cash refund for recycling glass containers. The states that currently have a bottle bill are: Michigan, California, Delaware, Maine, Hawaii, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Vermont.
Eighty percent of recycled glass is used to make new glass bottles or jars, however there are some other uses for recycled glass including:
• Fiberglass production (second most popular use of post-consumer glass behind beverage containers)
• Fractionators for matches and ammunition
• Abrasives in sand-blasting
• Ingredient in concrete and highway reflective paint
• Ceramic tiles and picture frames around the house
• Sand to help beaches that have been depleted by erosion
Almost 28 pounds of air pollution is created for very ton of new glass that is produced. Recycling glass reduces that pollution by 14-20%. A recycled glass container can go from a recycling bin to a store shelf in as little as 30 days.
Lynne
Hi Lynn
you certainly know your stuff.
I plan to be a regular here
cheers
Steve
Hi Lynne,
I remember the good old days when we took bottles back to reclaim our ‘deposit’ and they were then steralised and re-used!
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy