How Are Glass Bottles Recycled?

Glass Is Sorted and Cleaned

Disposed glass is sorted by color and cleaned of impurities at a processing plant. The pigments in colored glass, such as the brown in some beer bottles, cannot be removed. Therefore, brown glass will be recycled only into brown glass.

Glass Is Crushed

The glass is crushed into tiny pieces called cullet.

Cullet Is Mixed

The cullet is sent to a manufacturing plant, where it is mixed with the raw materials sand, limestone and soda ash.

Cullet Mixture Is Melted

The cullet mixture is melted in a furnace at temperatures up to 2,800 degrees F.

Glass Is Formed

The melted mixture is fed into a glass-forming machine where it is molded, air blown and shaped into its new form.

Glass is Cooled

The new glass is cooled, inspected for imperfections and shipped back into the marketplace.

Fun Fact

It takes up to one million years for a glass bottle to decompose naturally. This is why it is important to recycle glass.

Resources

• Thinkgreen.com
• State of California Department of Conservation