Looking for a place to recycle glass bottles or jars? The good news is that you can easily do it at a nearby glass recycling center or even at home.
WHY RECYCLE GLASS AT HOME?
Glass is ubiquitous. We use it for packaging just about everything. But unlike most food or beverage options, glass can be infinitely recycled without sacrificing quality.
Recycled glass bottles can replace 95% of raw materials, which means that all efforts to reuse it prevent precious materials from being wasted. Did you know that for every ton of glass recycled, more than a ton of natural resources are saved?
If you’re wondering if it’s worth it to return those bottles you have at home, know that deposits add up quickly. Many states have bottle deposits that can return up to 10 cents per bottle. So if you’ve had a big party or just accumulated a bunch of bottles over the past few weeks, throw them all in the car and head to a glass bottle recycling center near you.
Most grocery stores in your town will have a glass recycling machine. Be sure to separate by color, as this will make the process easier both ways for you and the store. Be sure to clean the bottles before returning them and be prepared to stand in line.
Since the process is time-consuming, we recommend that you wait until you have a large collection built up. Once you have more bags than you can handle, it’s time to head to a glass bottle recycling center near you.
What is the glass recycling container?
The glass recycling container is the green one. It collects only and exclusively various types of glass containers. We know that on many occasions, it is a bit confusing to remember which waste and materials go in which container. And, who has not ever doubted whether the lids of glass bottles and jars go in the green container or in the yellow one?
To resolve this and more possible doubts about what waste should be deposited in the green container for glass recycling, you can consult the following list. What can be thrown in the glass container?
– Yes: bottles, jars, jars.
– No: caps or lids (must be deposited in the yellow container); glass (glasses, cups, or light bulbs, you must take them to the nearest recycling center); ceramics or porcelain (cups or plates that you must also take to a recycling center).
In this other EcologíaVerde post, you can learn more about What can be recycled in the green garbage can.
Glass recycling process step by step
For the manufacture of glass, it is necessary to extract silica and the correct production of the different glass containers in a packaging plant. Subsequently, the glass products are ready for marketing and consumption by consumer customers, who will later dispose of them as waste once they deem it appropriate to terminate the useful life of the product.
After this moment, recycling comes into play as a fundamental tool for maximum utilization of glass so that, after the selective collection of waste previously deposited in the green glass container, these are transported to the glass recycling plant, where the following glass recycling process is carried out:
1. The glass is separated and classified by color and elements.
2. All non-glass material is removed.
3. The glass is crushed and mixed with sand, sodium hydroxide, and limestone to make new products.
However, there are other glass recycling processes that are not carried out in recycling plants. These are all those reuse opportunities that we give to the different glass containers in our homes, gardens, restaurants, and offices. In the following sections of this article, you will discover how to recycle and reuse glass in the most sustainable and ingenious way.
How to recycle glass at home
It is becoming increasingly common to recycle glass at home. Normally, we use an exclusive recycling bin for glass containers, which is important that it is always well marked to avoid confusion during the recycling process. On the other hand, we should always try to remove any possible liquid that may remain as a residue in the bottles and different glass containers that we are recycling.
Another important point to consider when recycling glass is to find out if there is any place (store, bar, or other) that is responsible for accepting returnable glass bottles, i.e., to facilitate the container is reused to be returned to the bottling plant.
If you choose to give a new life to glass containers in your own home, remember that you can always use them to store other liquids (oil, vinegar, water), as well as food in the pantry (vegetables, cookies, pasta) and/or in the fridge (sauces); or even use them as a topper and take your salads or cereals with yogurt to eat outside the home.