The Benefits of Recycling Glass

Recycling glass is one of the easiest ways in which we can all help to protect the environment and conserve energy. What are the benefits of recycling glass? Some of these facts might surprise you…

• Glass is 100% recyclable. It can be recycled time and time again – endlessly in fact – with absolutely no loss in quality or purity.
• Glass used in recycling (known as cullet) needs a lower heating temperature than glass manufactured from raw materials which results in 40% less energy used.   In fact, recycling just one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours or power a computer for 30 minutes!
• Recycling glass conserves the natural environment by reducing the need to use tons of raw materials each year. For every ton of glass that is recycled, 1300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash and 380 pounds of limestone are saved.
• Recycling glass reduces CO2 CO2 – a greenhouse gas – is reduced by 1 ton for every 6 tons of recycled container glass.
• If we don’t recycle our glass bottles, inevitably they end up in landfill. It is estimated that a single glass bottle sent to landfill could take up to a million years to break down! Compare this to a recycled glass bottle that can be back in circulation as a new product within a month!

Faced with these facts, recycling glass is the obvious choice for us all and for the protection of the environment in which we live. As well as recycling our own glass products, another way in which we can help to decrease the production of new glass products and increase the circulation of recycled glass products, is to ensure that we buy recycled glassware for use in our own homes.   The unique characteristics of glass mean that in buying recycled glassware, you are in no way compromising on quality or purity. That’s the beauty of glass – endlessly recyclable!