Bottles and jars collected in recycling schemes are sorted manually at recycling depots into clear, amber and green glass. Containers of different coloured glass are then taken to a beneficiation plant to upgrade the quality of the waste glass before reprocessing. At these plants, contaminants such as metals, plastic, china, ceramics and stones are removed, and the glass is crushed. The cullet is transported to the glass-making factory where it is used with the other batch materials to make new glass containers. According to ACI Glass Packaging, new glass bottles may be made with up to 100% cullet. However, "the actual percentage depends on the quality and quantity of cullet available" (ACI Glass Packaging, 2000) There may be some energy savings in using cullet in glass manufacture, but the savings depends on the percentage of cullet used. Using cullet, however, does save resources. Each tonne of cullet saves 1.1 tonnes of raw materials.
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Glass has the least volatile pricing of all the post consumer recycling commodities. Composed of sand and potash; bottle glass is made from readily available and inexpensive raw materials. To be competitive, recycled glass must maintain a price that competes with these abundant raw materials. Traded as flint (clear), amber (brown), emerald (green) or mixed color broken glass the value ranges from $0 and $65 US per metric ton delivered to a glass plant.
The price depends on the cleanliness and color of the recycled product. Clean flint cullet (another word for broken glass) is usually the most desirable form of recycled glass scrap. Mixed color broken glass with ceramics or stones mixed in it is the least desirable grade of cullet bringing the lowest price. Most Recyclers color sort and break or crush and screen bottles before selling their product.
Modern, high production bottle manufacturing requires very clean and uniform feedstock. Over the past decade there has been a growth in the glass benefaction sector. These are intermediate processors that receive glass from recycling programs and run it through a series of steps to remove any contaminants (rocks, ceramics, metal caps, etc.) and provide a uniform feedstock to the bottle manufacturers. These preprocessors provide an excellent market for recycling programs that do not have the volume or ability to produce glass for direct mill delivery.
Glass beneficiation plants use sophisticated optical sorting machines to separate the glass into the three color types. They may also x-ray the glass to detect any rocks or ceramics which are then removed. Magnets and eddy current separators are used to removed magnetic and non-magnetic metal contamination from caps and lids. The end product is a uniformly sized load of ground glass that is free of contaminants readily acceptable by bottle manufacturers.
Lower grades of recycled glass that are too mixed or contaminated, may be used in concrete or in road paving material called "Glassphalt". In some areas where there is an overabundance of low grade glass it is used to cover over the rubbish in the land fill in place of sand. This is not truly recycling and it is hoped that better sorting technology will soon make this material usable for new bottles.
Glass recycling saves energy because recycled glass can be processed at a lower temperature than blending new glass from raw materials. Also, recycled glass is usually closer to the bottle plants than the sources of potash, the most expensive component in glass bottles and jars.
Glass is one of the world's most popular forms of packaging. And it's one of the few packaging materials that is both reusable and 100 % recyclable glass containers can be recycled infinitely with no reduction in quality. The history of glass come from? The use of glass dates back to ancient Egypt and believe it or not, since then there has been little change to resources used to produce glass. What is glass made from? Glass is manufactured from sand, soda-ash, and limestone. How does Visy recycle glass? Glass is collected from its various locations and transported back to Visy Recycling. Here the glass is sorted into three separate colours - green, clear and amber. All other colours are combined with the amber bottles. The glass is then crushed into fine pieces called "cullet". The "cutlet" is melted and mixed with virgin materials to form new glass.
Can all glass be recycled? No not all glass can be recycled. The types of glass which are sought by Visy Recycling are clear, green and brown bottles; such as soft drink bottles, wine and beer bottles. Glass which cannot be recycled are broken mirrors, opaque bottles and glass which is used for heating, eg Corning Ware. Ceramic, china mugs and plates cannot be recycled either. These are considered major contaminants of which only small amounts of these contaminants can cause large amounts of glass to be rejected for recycling and therefore ending up in landfill.
Visy's Recycling tips for you at home. When preparing your glass for collection remove lids from jars and caps off bottles. Leaving the label on the jar or bottle is okay, but you do need to rinse them out to remove any remaining contents. Remove all ceramic and china pieces from your recyclable glass, this includes vases, oven-proof pots and dishes and mirrors. Careful not to break the glass, broken glass is very difficult to sort.
Glass facts. Glass can be continually reused and it is 100% recyclable. It only takes 25 grams of ceramic or china to contaminate a tonne of glass. See how using glass at home and school can be lots of fun. Jars with lids can be used by the whole family to store nuts and bolts, or can be refilled with homemade jams and pickles. Bottles can be used as vases. Vegemite, cream cheese etc, come readily made as drinking glasses purchasing these products means you will have a drinking glass once you finish the contents.
Eyeglasses, Reuse / Recycling
The old lenses that steer you into walls may be the perfect gift for someone in need. Chances are an optician or club in your area collects eyeglasses for reuse. Collected eyeglasses are cleaned, repaired and measured to determine the correction. Available glasses are cataloged in a computer database, and matched to people with need. Many of the glasses are sent to other countries, as laws in the USA make it difficult to re-dispense a prescription product. Another option is to have your old glasses tinted to turn them into into sunglasses. The Lions Clubs operate the largest program, collecting glasses from thousands of opticians. Of the chain stores, LensCrafters, For-Eyes and Pearle collect glasses chain-wide. Several organizations accept eyewear by mail. Collect glasses from friends and co-workers and use a box to pack the eyewear so it won't be damaged. Send by third class, fourth class or UPS ground. Medical Ministry International, ATTN: eyeglass recycling, 12281 S.W. 28th, Miami, FL. 33175 accepts reusable eyewear of all types. SightFirst Eyeglass Recycling Center, 34 W. Spain, Sonoma, CA 95476 accepts all types of glasses for the Lion's program. New Eyes for the Needy, 549 PO Box 332, Short Hills, NY 07078 accepts scrap metal frames in any condition, unbroken plastic framed glasses, non-prescription sunglasses and any precious metal scrap like broken jewelry. In Canada send glasses to The Low Vision Clinic, 1929 Bayview Ave., Toronto, ON M4G 3E8.