Recycled Glass
Glass can be recycled indefinitely as part of a simple but hugely beneficial process, creating products like glasses, plates, vases, jugs and storage jars from EcoCentric.
New glass is made from a mixture of four main ingredients: sand, soda ash, limestone and other additives. These additives include iron for colour (brown or green), chromium and cobalt for colour (green and blue respectively, lead to alter the refractive index, alumina for durability and boron to improve the thermal options.
In the case of recycled glass bottles and jars, up to 80% of the total mixture can be made from reclaimed scrap glass, called "cullet". If recycled glass is used to make new bottles and jars, the energy needed in the furnace is greatly reduced. After accounting for the transport and processing needed, 315kg of CO2 is saved per tonne of glass melted.
Recycling two bottles saves enough energy to boil water for five cups of tea
In addition:
- Recycling reduces the demand for raw materials. There is no shortage of the materials used, but they do have to be quarried from our landscape, so from this point of view, there are environmental advantages to recovering and recycling glass. For every tonne of recycled glass used, 1.2 tonnes of raw materials are preserved.
- Recycling reduces the amount of waste glass which needs to be landfilled. Although glass is inert and is not directly hazardous to the environment, it will remain there indefinitely.
- Taking part in recycling the waste we produce makes us think about the effect we are having on our environment and enables us to contribute towards a greater level of sustainability
Visit Waste Online website for more information.
(Source: wasteonline.org.uk)
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