Dealing With Glass

Reusing glass bottles
 It is much better for the environment's sake to reuse a glass bottle than to recycle it. Glass bottles can be collected, washed, and refilled. Bottles that are reused need to be a bit heavier than other bottles so that they do not break or chip easily.

Some glass bottles may be reused more than 30 times and have a life of four years. In the developing world, it is common for glass bottles to be collected and reused.

Recycling glass bottles

Bottles to be recycled are collected at recycling centers. The glass is crushed to form cullet, which is transported to glass factories.
Glass is made from sand, soda ash, and limestone. Additives may be used to give the glass a color or to make it more resistant to heat. These raw materials are heated in a furnace to 3,272°F (1 ,800°C)'so they melt. The molten glass is poured into molds to form new bottles.  Cullet is usually added to the furnace with the raw materials, so fewer raw materials are required to make the glass.

Clear glass is the most valuable because it has many uses. A lot of brown glass is used for beer bottles. Green glass is the least useful and is used mostly for wine bottles. Glass also can be recycled to make garden paving, decorative jewelry, and a road surface called glasphalt.

Benefits of recycling

Recycling glass saves energy because glass made with cullet melts at a lower temperature than glass made from raw materials, so less energy is used to heat the materials in the furnace. It reduces the air pollution produced by glass manufacturing by 20 percent and the water pollution by 50 percent. It means less glass ends up in landfills and less broken glass is lying around to harm people and wildlife.

Local Dumpster Rentals   and Waste Management Experts who can provide you with professional consultation on glass recycling:

• Dumpster Rentals Phoenix is a local Phoenix, AZ junk removal and roll off dumpster rentals company

• Dumpster Rentals Seattle - privately owned and operated roll off container rentals business

• Dumpster Rentals Sacramento - Roll Off Dumpsters and Waste Removal company serving Sacramento, CA.

• Published: 2012-10-29T14:17:25-07:00
• Author: Anna Krupp, Dumpsters & Roll Off Container Consultant