Glass Recycling - Is it Worth the Effort?

ust consumed a pretty normal lunch; a sandwichnew glass, so the furnaces last longer.
and a bottle of soda pop served on a paper plate.While there are many positive reasons for
When you are finished, you throw everything inrecycling glass, there are also negatives.
the garbage for a quick clean up. You wereThere are high costs involved in transporting the
probably aware that the paper plate and therecycled glass to the re-manufacturing plant.
paper napkin were biodegradable and thatConsumers often add non-recyclable glass to the
eventually they would decompose and return torecyclable glass resulting in a less that pure
the soil. But were you aware that the soda popproduct.
bottle you threw out in the garbage will be in theMuch of the glass is used in commercial
landfill a million years from now?establishments is not recycled and ends up in
Putting that into perspective, man appeared onlandfills.
earth 100,000 years ago and recorded historyGlass must be sorted into colors to be recycled.
only goes back 10,000 years. The decision not toIn order to keep the recycled glass pure, high
recycle that glass will impact an earth that nonecosts are involved in purchasing machinery that
of us can even imagine.will detect contaminants such as
Is Recycling worth the effort? Most definately.“Pyrex” and will sort the
Glass recycling has many more pros than cons,processed glass according to color.
and glass recycling is popular for many reasons.Glass is used for a number of other products
80 percent of the recycled glass is used tosuch as mirrors, Pyrex brand cookware, light
produce new glass containers.bulbs, countertops and flooring materials. None of
Glass can be recycled indefinitely to make newthese products can be used to recycle glass, and
glass.if mixed with recyclable glass, will contaminate the
Making new glass bottles from recycled glass usesfinal product.
less energy and creates less pollution.Overall, glass recycling is beneficial. It saves
It is non toxic and will not contaminate ourresources and the environment, and since glass
environment even if it does end up in a landfill.does not biodegrade, recycling will keep it out of
There is a rapid turnaround time. Within a monththe landfills where it will last forever.
of recycling that soda pop bottle can be back onEven if the cost of recycling is more than the
the shelves as another glass product.cost of trash removal, we can’t continue
Some glass products have a bottle-deposit lawto fill our planet with trash. Eventually we will run
and may give you cash for beverage containersout of room! Finding ways to reduce the amount
you return.of glass we use, reuse the glass that we do use
In most cases, the cost of curbside recycling isfor other purposes, and when we do dispose of
less than that of trash collection.the glass, be sure to recycle.
Recycled glass needs less heat to process into