Recycle Glass Week

The Glass Packaging Institute, as the trade association for the glass container industry, not only promotes the use of glass but encourages its users to recycle it as well. GPI hosts Recycle Glass Week September 21-27 as a way to promote glass recycling nationwide. While there is no shortage of sand or any of the other materials used to make glass, those materials do need to be mined and transported. Here are some interesting facts about glass and the reasons it should be recycled:

• When recycled glass is mixed with virgin glass materials, the heat required to melt the material is reduced.  Less heat means less energy is required to do the same job.
• Glass is 100% recyclable-indefinitely.
• Glass will persist in a landfill for about 1 million years. It does not break down chemically. It erodes through weathering.
• The EPA reports the U.S. national average for glass recycling in 2007 at 28%.
• 13.6 million tons of glass are put into the U.S. waste stream annually.

About 80% of all recycled glass will become another glass container, but there are some interesting secondary uses, such as:

• sand for depleted beaches
• golf courses
• fiberglass insulation
• construction aggregate
• industrial abrasives
• ceramic tiles

 Additional information about GPI and Recycle Glass Week can be found at www.gpi.org.