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Glass recycling is the process of turning waste glass into usable products. Glass waste should be separated by chemical composition, and then, depending on the end use and local processing capabilities, might also have to be separated into different colours. The major types of glass used for consumer containers are:

Colour Type of glass Properties Uses

• colourless glass - Flint glass food, beverage, beer, liquor and wine bottles
• green - Green glass wine and beer bottles
• brown - Brown/Amber glass beer and liquor bottles

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. Adding to this waste is the fact that many manual methods of creating glass objects have a defect rate of around forty percent. Glass recycling uses less energy than manufacturing glass from sand, lime and soda. Every tonne of waste glass recycled into new items saves 315 additional kilograms of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere during the creation of new glass. Glass that is crushed and ready to be remelted is called cullet.

752,000 tons of glass are now recycled annually in the United Kingdom. Glass is an ideal material for recycling and where it is used for new glass container manufacture it is virtually infinitely recyclable. The use of recycled glass in new containers helps save energy. It helps in brick and ceramic manufacture, and it conserves raw materials, reduces energy consumption, and reduces the volume of waste sent to landfill.

Useful links and further information for glass recycling can be found at

http://www.glassrecycle.co.uk/

The British Glass website

The British Recycling Glass website