ReUse And Recycling Glass

Glass recycling and glass reuse should be more incorporated into our daily lives. There are no excuses why we shoudn’t be reusing glass containers. State laws should encourage the reuse and recycling of glass.

It is estimated that 41 billion glass containers are made every year, and 27 billion glass containers are thrown away. This ratio of waste just doesn’t make sense, when most glass is 100% recyclable.

Recycled Glass Reduces Pollution And Waste
“Recycling glass reduces air pollution by 20%, and water pollution by 50%, compared with trashing it. Every time you recycle a glass bottle that would have been trashed, you save enough energy to light a 100 watt bulb for four hours.”

When we recycle glass there are three types:
1. Colorless – food, beverage, beer, liquor and wine bottles
2. Green – wine and beer bottles
3. Brown/Amber – beer and liquor bottles

Reusing glass is even better:
1. Saves money in purchases and disposal costs
2. Results in less hazardous waste
3. Reduces the strain on valuable resources
4. Generates new business and employment opportunities for both small entrepreneurs and large enterprises
Source: www.reuseglassbottles.com

Reusing glass containers even makes more common sense. Why not reuse glass containers? The thickness and the bulky nature of glass make it more difficult to transport it. Reusable glass containers should be mandatory, whenever practical.

But recycling glass is better than nothing. Glass is made of sand, lime, and soda. Crushed glass is called cullet. Fiberglass products are made from glass cullet.

Glass ReUse In the United States
More could be done to reuse glass in the United States. Europe, Canada, and other parts of the world use standard reusable containers, especially for carbonated beverages.

But, it makes no sense that Americans use glass jars for spaghetti sauce, apple sauce, jelly, and other products, and then wind up in a landfill. Carbonated beverages such as beer containers wind up in landfills.  Why not clean and reuse them? We clean and reuse our drinking glasses and plates.

Changing Consumer Behavior Patterns
Our consumer behavior patterns and our mindset needs to be changed to eliminate glass waste. Manufacturers need to be told that marketing of products need not be so wasteful. The buck stops with the consumer.

The bottom line is this – we can reuse a boring, generic glass bottle over and over. Or we can keep on doing what we’re doing. Use that jar and toss it on a heap of other bottles. But, this is highly wasteful, and absolutely unnecessary. Let’s do the right thing.