Glass makes up a large component of household and industrial waste due to its weight and density. The glass component in municipal waste is usually made up of bottles, broken glassware, light bulbs and other items.
Glass is made from liquid sand. It is be made by heating ordinary sand (mostly made of silicon dioxide) until it melts and turns into a liquid. Sand melts at a very high temperature about 17000C. Other minerals such as lime, soda ash and some other additives are added to make glass.
HOW TO RECYCLE GLASS.
Glass recycling is the process of turning waste glass into useable products. It is one of the many ways we can help reduce pollution and waste. Every day, we throw away tones of rubbish and glass is a significant part of it.
Glass can be melted down and made into many different forms from drinking glasses to glass fiber. When the glass is taken to a manufacturing or recycling plant, it is broken up into smaller pieces called cullets.
The broken pieces are crushed, sorted, cleaned, and prepared to be mixed with other raw materials like soda ash and sand. The raw materials and glass pieces are melted in a furnace and then shaped into moulds to make new bottles of different colours and sizes. New recycled bottles and jars are made in this way.
In countries like USA, there are kerbside recycling schemes, which have specially demarcated boxes to collect glass that can be recycled. Some supermarkets, car parks and other public areas have glass bottle banks, where you can take your recyclable jars and bottles.
The benefits of recycling glass are numerous. Apart from the fact that it uses less energy compared to when the glass is manufactured from the beginning, it also prevents glass from piling up in landfills that are a threat to safety. Glass produced from recycled glass reduces pollution into the environment by reducing air pollution by 20% and related water pollution by 50%.
Every metric ton (1,000 kg) of waste glass recycled into new items saves 315 kilograms (694 lb) of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere during the creation of new glass.
Recycled glass can be made back into its former state or it can be recycled to produce new glass items. Glass do not degrade during the recycling process so it can be used again and again
Culled from:
wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/project_ideas/recycling_glass/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling
www.recyclenow.com/facts-figures/how-it-recycled/glass-bottles
