Essay How to Recycle Glass

It is important to know that the glass has 100% capacity to be recycled without incurring any loss in purity and quality. It has been observed that the glass recycling process can be beneficial in so many ways, and if the recycling process handled properly, it could come up with many benefits. For instance, if glass recycling is done properly, it will not just reduce the glass waste but can be used to make many useable things. The cost of making material from recycled glass is low as compared with the material made from first-hand glass. Here in this paper, there is a detailed discussion about the methods that can be used in glass recycling and why they are beneficial in different ways for the manufacturers, food companies or the environment.

Few Considerable Glass Facts

·         Other than its 100% purity and quality, the recycled glass can be substituted for raw materials up to a level of 95%

·         The glass recycling is very convenient, and it just needs some domestic material to make glass such as cullet, limestone, soda ash, and sand, which are readily available.

·         Cullet and sand are the materials which are mostly used in glass. The mixture of these materials is made, and then mixed material is heat up to the temperature of 2600-2800 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the heat is applied, then glass can be moulded into any shapes.

·         There are various benefits of glass recycling, and manufacturers can get profit from it. The radiation emission during the glass making process is significantly reduced, and recycling also reduces the use of raw materials, which means that a lot of energy is saved.

·         The 100% recyclability is shown by the beverage and food glass containers, but other glass types cannot be used, such as crystal, Pyrex, ovenware, and windows. These glass types have a different manufacturing process, so if these are used with glass containers of beverages & food, then there can be various issues arises like having a defective container.

·         The important thing to keep in mind about glass recycling is that the recycled glass should be containment free. By doing so, it can be made sure that materials are recycled in a way that it can be used in new glass containers without any issue.

Why is it important to Recycle Glass?

The people do use various types of glass in their daily life and then it is thrown in the dustbin as a waste.  Wasting glass can eventually contribute towards the land and ocean pollution. It is not right and also not good for the environment because glass has the capability to be recycled and can be used for various purposes, then why one should throw it in the dustbin increasing the amount of waste. It is important to know that recycling just one ton of glass can save a lot of natural resources. One should know that glass recycling can be crucial to make to reduce climate change because glass recycling not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions, but energy is also saved. Moreover, the recycled glass can be used for various purposes such as manufacturing products for home decoration. So, one should do his part towards the betterment of the environment and recycle the glass, so that required for the glass can be fulfilled without using excessive natural resources.

Understanding Glass Recycling Process

People may think that glass recycling process must be too complex and difficult to be followed, but in the face, this process is very easy to understand, and it does not require any significant extra efforts. Here are a few steps of the glass recycling process;

·         The first thing is that the glass must put into recycle bins rather than dustbin

·         The glass from these recycle bins is collected and taken to any recycling plant, which is involved in glass treatment.

·         Next important process is to sort these glasses with their colours so that similar glass types are differentiated after this glass washing is done to remove any kind of impurities it has.

·         The next critical step is crushing the glass, and then heat is applied to a certain degree so that it can be moulded. Once the heat process is done, recycled glass is moulded to make new products such as jars and bottles. The recycled glass can also be used in home decoration purposes, and it is considerable in brick manufacturing.

·         Once the glass is properly recycled and molded in new products, these new products of glass are taken to shops, companies etc., where it can be sold and again used by consumers.

·         The best thing about glass is that it does not degrade in the recycling process, so if it is needed to be recycled again for any reason, then it can be easily recycled without having any issues. It means that glass will never be wasted in any case, as it can be recycled easily multiple times.

Additional Facts & Statistics on Glass Recycling

·         According to Precision Consulting (NAIMA), up to 3.35m tons of glass recycled is collectively purchased by fibreglass as well as container industries.

·         If cullet is used up to 10% in the process of manufacturing, then drop in energy costs can be around 2 to 3 %, which is very significant.

·         If in the manufacturing process, up to 6 tons of recycled glass container is used, then carbon reduction will be one ton due to process.

·         The statistics released by U.S EPA have revealed that the percentage of recovery of soft drinks and beer bottles was 41.9 % in the year 2015. The recycled percentage for liquor & wine bottles was 27.5 %, and other glass jars along with food showed a percentage of up to 15.1 %. 

·         In the last 30 years, a significant decrease has been achieved in terms of the weight of glass bottles. The glass bottles are 40% less in weight as compared to glass bottles 30 years ago.

·         The manufactures can have so many benefits from glass recycling so they should consider it as a beneficial process in their business strategy.