The Advantages of Recycling Glass
Glass is one of the easiest substances for consumers to recycle, and a number of states even have a deposit and refund program in place to encourage glass recycling. Recycling stations are commonly found in grocery stores or a designated recycling location and require that glass be separated by color into clear, green, blue, and brown or amber.
Other People Are Reading
-
Reusable
-
Glass is infinitely recyclable. As long as it remains separated by color, it can be melted down and re-used to make new bottles indefinitely. This is a great benefit to the environment both because less raw materials are used, and because it takes a lot less energy to recycle glass than to make new glass. This is also important because glass lasts indefinitely. If it is not recycled it will take up space in landfills for a very long time.
Energy reduction
-
The raw materials for making new glass, such as sand, limestone, and soda ash, need to be heated to a higher temperature than that required for processing recycled glass. These raw materials contain carbon that is released during processing, while recycled glass has negligible carbon emissions. The mining and transport of the raw materials also requires more energy than the transport of recycled glass. According to Earth911.com, there is a 40 percent energy savings from using recycled glass to produce containers rather than new glass.
-
Reuse
-
Recycled glass has a number of uses besides being processed back into containers. Glass that can not be used in container production because of problems is used instead in the production of fiberglass, as an abrasive, or as a reflective ingredient in paint. Crushed, recycled glass is also used in various road and sidewalk surfaces as both a filler and decorative ingredient. Some recycled glass starts the entire cycle anew when it is used to replace sand on beaches depleted by storms and erosion.
-
References
- Photo Credit glass bottles and phial image by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com
