Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars every two weeks to fill the 1,350-foot towers of the World Trade Center.
Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.
Glass never wears out -- it can be recycled forever. We save over a ton of resources for every ton of glass recycled -- 1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.
A ton of glass produced from raw materials created 384 pounds of mining waste. Using 50% recycled glass cuts it by about 75%.
We get 27.8 pounds of air pollution for every ton of new glass produced.
Recycling glass reduces that pollution by 14-20%.
Recycling glass saves 25-32% of the energy used to make glass. Glass makes up about 8% of American municipal garbage. About 75% of America's glass is used for packaging. The average American can save six pounds of glass in a month. As late as 1947, virtually 100% of all beverage bottles were returnable. Every day, Americans recycle about 13 million glass jars and bottles. Germany recycles almost 40% of its glass. States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.
(Source: The Earth Works Group Recycler's Handbook)
Glass containers were recycled at a rate of 38 percent in 1996.
More than 2.5 million tons of cullet (processed recovered glass) was used in 1996.
There are more than 500,000 tons of glass refillable containers in use.
Nearly 650,000 tons of recovered glass was used in non-container applications such as glasphalt, road filler and fiberglass. (Source: Glass Packaging Institute)
Americans recycled enough glass last year to fill New Jersey's Giants Stadium more than 3 ½ times.
Glass containers recycled in 94 would fill 103,333 tractor trailers. Bumper to bumper, they'd stretch from Dallas to Los Angeles.
If all the glass bottles and jars collected through recycling in the U.S. in 94 were laid end to end, they'd reach the moon and half way back to earth.
(Source: American Flint Glass Workers Union)
Glass containers saves 9 gallons of fuel (oil) for every ton of recycled glass.
Glass containers used for new glass containers, fiberglass insulation, road beds (aggregate), concrete block, glassphalt (asphalt) (Source: Waste Management, Inc.)
Recycling one glass bottle saves enough electricity to light a 100 watt bulb for four hours. (Source: Recycling and Buy Recycled Fact Sheets America Recycles Day)
To make sure the glass you collect can be recycled, prepare it properly. Remove lids and metal bottle collars. Rinse containers to remove traces of food and beverages. Dirty containers may produce odors and will attract insects and rodents. Paper labels may be left on containers. To protect yourself and workers at recycling centers, take care not to break glass containers you collect.
(Source: Texas Agricultural Extension Service Reference)
Glass Container Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Facts:
Generated:
Recycled:
Recycled Content:
Incinerated or Landfilled:
Landfilled Volume:
Density:
Source Reduction:
(Source: Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the U.S.)
Facts about the importance of keeping recycled glass contaminant-free
Wastefacts:
The materials glass plants fear most include:
Other materials that cannot be recycled with glass are mirrors and most drinking glasses.
Contaminants can seriously damage the furnace or result in poor quality of the plant's product.
Glass furnaces operate at temperatures of up to 2800°F. Lead and aluminum melt at this temperature while iron and lead settle to the bottom of the furnace tank and corrode its brick lining. Aluminum melts into small balls called "stones" or bubbles called "seeds." Stones and seeds can be deposited in the walls of the glass containers being made, causing aesthetic problems and weakening the bottles wall.
Steel lids also do not melt at furnace-operating temperatures. As a result, they sometimes block feed lines going from the furnace and cause production shutdown. Iron contaminants from the steel lids also can cause brown streaks in glass bottles, especially the clear ones.
Ceramics and stones do not melt at furnace temperatures. Large ceramic pieces and stones can become stuck in feed lines, while smaller stones can cause imperfections in the finished product, causing product rejection rates to skyrocket.
Glass that can be recycled includes all containers such as soda bottles, beer bottles, food containers and home canning jars.
Many people wonder why three colors are used in the manufacture of glass bottles. The reason is a simple one most products are placed in clear bottles, called flint, to enhance product appeal. However, some products degrade if exposed to sunlight. Therefore, these products are packaged in amber (brown) or green containers. No mixing of glass colors is permitted because most glass-container customers will not tolerate variances in glass color. Keep in mind no machinery automatically removes ceramics or stones from the glass or separates glass into three colors. This is still done by the recycler responsible for collecting the glass. Quality control in glass recycling is a job we all must do.
(Source: U.S. EPA 1996. Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States, Washington, D.C.) |
