How do you recycle glass? Glass is challenging to recycle but has many uses. "Glass is a very challenging commodity to recycle, but it is recyclable," says Gerry Acuna, the president of Tri Recycling Inc.,...
"Glass is a very challenging commodity to recycle, but it is recyclable," says Gerry Acuna, the president of Tri Recycling Inc., who has been involved in recycling for 12 years."
If you do have bottles, jars or other glass items to recycle, you may be able to recycle them in the same places you recycle newspaper, plastic, cardboard and metal.
If you do have bottles, jars or other glass items to recycle, you may be able to recycle them in the same places you recycle newspaper, plastic, cardboard and metal.
"It is recycled in most programs basically in the same way as all the other items," says Acuna.
If you participate in a curbside recycling system, you may be able to recycle it there. If not, search online sites such as the Glass Recycling Institute at www.gpi.org/recycling. They offer information about glass container recycling and tools for recycling glass in your community.
The Glass Recycling Institute also outlines the environmental benefits of recycling glass "Recycling glass reduces consumption of raw materials, extends the life of plant equipment, such as furnaces, and saves energy."
Furthermore, their experts discuss how reliable the commodity is "Made from domestically plentiful, nontoxic raw materials,silica, sand, soda ash, limestone and up to 70% recycled glass,glass is one of the safest packaging materials."
A brochure, available for free download on their site, details more aspects of the process and provides answers to common questions about glass recycling.
Acuna explains that once you turn your items in to a proper organization, the glass travels through several steps before re-entering public circulation.
"It is sorted at your local recycling center by color. For the most part, clear glass and brown glass have the greatest value, green glass having absolutely no value at this point in the market, but they're all recyclable."
The way in which glass is recycled depends on the place that processes it.
Glass can be used for numerous things," says Acuna. "It can be ground down to the texture of sand and that can be used as aggregate work base for roads, highways, sewage projects, and pipe projects in place of sand."
In an effort to promote more glass recycling, the National Recycling Coalition formed the Glass Recycling Partnership.
The initiatives of that group include forming a glass recycling team of professionals to "provide technical assistance to municipalities seeking to add glass to their recycling programs, provide training in workshops and sessions at state and national recycling events and conferences, and provide a quick response to cities contemplating downsizing recycling programs," reads their site.
They'll also choose three cities that don't currently include glass in their recycling program to implement a plan to do so.
Acuna explains that the key to recovery of used glass is incentive, and that may be why many choose not to recycle it.
"Is there a cost benefit in doing that? May or may not be, but again there are many ways to recycle glass. It is a good commodity."
He sees a potential solution in returning to the soda bottle return method of the 1980s, when citizens would pay a deposit and take the bottle back to the retailer for monetary redemption.
"I think the reintroduction of the bottle bill legislation would really help."
