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Wasteline Promoting action on waste reduction reuse and recycling Information info@wastewatch.org.uk 0870 243 0136 |
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Glass Bottles and Jars
History
As early as 4000 BC glass was used in the Middle East as a glaze to decorate beads. By 1550 BC, glass was big business, with bottles and ornaments being made in a variety of colours, but not in clear glass. The earliest known piece made from clear glass is a vase found in Nineveh in Assyria, dating from around 800 BC, which is now in the British Museum in London.
Glass-blowing was probably developed in about 300 BC, and since then there have been few changes in basic methods of glass manufacture - except that it has become more mechanised. Until the 18th and 19th centuries, when glass-making became an industrial process, glass was very expensive and was used for limited applications, such as stained glass windows for churches.
Nowadays glass is much less expensive and is taken for granted as a packaging material. It makes up around 8-10% of the average household dustbin. Annually, just over 2 million tonnes of glass packaging are used in the UK. In 2000, 25% of this was recycled, a rate that is lower than the European average of about 55%. Switzerland is the European leader, with a recycling of over 95%. the Netherlands come in second, recycling over 91%.
On average, every family in the UKconsumes around 500 glass bottles and jars a year.
(British Glass)
Why reduce, re-use and recycle?
New glass is made from a mixture of sand, soda ash, limestone and other additives. In the case of bottles and jars, up to 80% of the total mixture can be made from reclaimed scrap glass, called "cullet". Glass can be recycled indefinitely, as its structure does not deteriorate when reprocessed.
- The manufacture of glass uses energy, in the extraction and transportation of the raw materials, and in the processing - materials have to be heated together to a very high temperature. A total of 566,563 tonnes of glass were recycled in the UK during 2000. This saved 153,000 Mw hours of electricity.
- Recycling reduces the demand for raw materials. There is no shortage of the materials used, but they do have to be quarried from our landscape, so from this point of view, there are environmental advantages to recovering and recycling glass. For every tonne of recycled glass used, 1.2 tonnes of raw materials are preserved.
- Recycling reduces the amount of waste glass which needs to be landfilled. Although glass is inert and is not directly hazardous to the environment, it will remain there indefinitely.
- Taking part in recycling the waste we produce makes us think about the effect we are having on our environment and enables us to contribute towards a greater level of sustainability
Returnable and re-usable containers
Returning bottles to the retailer and receiving the deposit in return used to be common practice. However as plants became larger and decreased in number, bottles had to be carried further for refilling. This removed much of the financial and environmental advantages associated with returnable bottles. In addition, to this consumer preference turned to the convenience of non-returnable bottles. Milk bottles are one of the few types of glass packaging still reused (an average of 20 times). Despite the extra weight required to withstand wear and tear and the costs of cleaning, returning bottles can still be the best option when they are recovered and refilled locally. There is also the option of reusing bottles and jars as storage containers for home made wine, beer or jam.
Recycling
Many people set aside glass for recycling and either participate in kerb-side collection schemes or take them to a bottle bank. The first bottle banks appeared in 1977, and there are now nearly 23,000 on sites around the country, usually located at civic amenity sites and supermarkets. To find your nearest bottle bank you can use the recycle bank locator at http://www.recycle-more.com
Glass can also be readily recovered from businesses, such as pubs and restaurants, and from companies, schools or organisations which are able to have a bottle bank on site. The local authority may service a bank if you provide one, or a local company may agree to sponsor you. Recycle-more.com also has a recycle-more-glass service which can give you advice and provide free glass collection in most areas of the country. Your local authority recycling officer will also be able to tell you about local facilities. The Waste Watch Wasteline can give you the contact details if you are unsure about who to ring, and also has details of local groups.
Points to remember:
- If a bottle is returnable it is usually preferable to return it, rather than to recycle it. In Denmark one-trip beer containers have been banned, however this action has been seen by many as a barrier to trade and has resulted in a European court case.
- Rinse the bottles or jars - ideally in washing-up water you have in the bowl anyway.
- Wherever possible, remove metal or plastic tops, corks and rings from bottles or jars. Any tops which remain will be removed by magnets, vibratory screens or other methods, but they can cause damage to furnaces if any get through.
- Recycle all glass containers, not just drinks bottles. Containers which hold food, pharmaceutical and household items which are made of glass are all recyclable
- Never deposit light bulbs or cookware such as 'Pyrex' or 'Visionware'. These have different properties to the glass used to make bottles and can contaminate a load, resulting in a sub-standard finished product. Flat glass, such as window glass, whole or broken, should not be put in bottle banks either - for advice about the disposal of this type of glass, please contact British Glass (see sources of further information).
- Make sure that you put the bottles in the correct bank - clear, green or brown. Most importantly, ensure clear glass is not contaminated with colours as this will considerably reduce the value as a higher price is paid for uncontaminated clear glass. Bottles made from blue glass can be put in the green glass bank. Bottles with a coloured coating can be recycled as any finishes added later will burn off in the furnace. To find the original glass colour check the top of the bottle where the cap was and put the bottle in the appropriate bank.
- Try to plan your trip to bottle banks along with other essential activities such as going shopping or to school. This way the environmental impact of the journey is kept to a minimum.
- Do not leave any boxes or bags at the bank that you have used to bring your glass in, there is normally a bin provided for these.
- Try to use bottle banks during the day, to avoid disturbing the local community at night.
Bottle banks are emptied by glass collection companies, or by the reprocessors, and the local authority or other party operating the bank is then paid by the tonne for the 'cullet'. When glass cullet reaches the plant it is monitored for purity, contaminants are abstracted and it is crushed and added to the raw material mix in the melting furnace. It is then moulded or mechanically blown into new bottles or jars. For more information contact the organisations and websites at the end of this data sheet.
The Glass Market
Price of recovered glass. The price for a tonne of recovered glass ranges from £15-22 for green glass, £25-30 for clear glass and £20-25 for brown glass (October 2002). The market for reclaimed materials is notoriously unstable and there are often fluctuations in price. Factors influencing this include changes in the cost of raw material, changes in the demand for glass packaged products or changes in the level of imports.
Over 50% of all glass collected for recycling in the UK is green.
(Competition Commission 2001)
Colour imbalance. The main barrier to recycling glass is the shortage of clear cullet collected in the UK. The UK predominantly produces clear and amber glass but because the UK exports a lot of clear glass, in the form of spirit bottles, and because consumers are also reluctant to deposit jars in bottle banks, little clear cullet is produced. The UK imports twice as much green glass as is manufactured, mainly in the form of wine bottles. In the past this has lead to a surplus of green cullet. Recently new markets for green glass such as glasphalt have increased demand so much that there is now a shortage of green cullet.
Uses of recycled glass. Glass cullet can be used in the production of new glass bottles. In the UK the average bottle contains over 25% of recycled glass. Green bottles manufactured in the UK contain at least 60% recycled glass and sometimes as much as 90%. Glass cullet can also be used for aggregate in the construction industry, and the new road laying material glasphalt. These materials can use mixed coloured and contaminated glass, and may be a good market for green glass.
Regulation affecting glass recycling
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997, which make everyone involved in the glass packaging chain partly responsible for recovery and recycling, is intended to increase the level of glass recycling and help to establish a more stable market for the 'cullet'. The initial target was to recover 50% of packaging by 2001 (recovery includes recycling, energy from waste and composting). By 2006 the UK will be obliged by European law to recycle at least 70% of glass in the packaging waste stream
Sources Of Further Information
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British Glass |
Glasspac |
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Independent Glass Recyclers Association - The |
letsrecycle.com |
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Recycle More Glass |
Recyclingglass.co.uk |
Updated: Nov 02
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ABOUT WASTEWATCH Waste Watch is a leading environmental organisation promoting sustainable resource management in the UK by campaigning for all areas of society to: · reduce resource consumption · maximise resource reuse · increase the percentage of waste they recycle And is partly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Environmental Action Fund. Web: http://www.wastewatch.org.uk For further information on Waste Watch membership, publications and consultancy services, please ring 020 7089 2100, fax 020 7403 4802 For further information and advice on this and other topics, please contact the: WASTE WATCH WASTELINE The Waste Watch Wasteline is supported by Cleanaway Ltd, EMR and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Tel: 0870 243 0136, email info@wastewatch.org.uk, or send an A4 sae to: Registered Charity No. 1005417, Registered Company No. 2649156, ENTRUST Registration No. 871023 |
