4 ms·

Glass is 100% recyclable infinite times with zero loss. If you shatter it, you can just melt it and reform it again.

ars 6y ago
Glass is also 100% pointless to recycle. The planet's crust is made of glass, it's not exactly a scarce resource, and old glass is environmentally harmless. And in the real world it's virtually never recycled, instead its crushed and used as landfill cover (they cover the trash each night to keep down vermin).
- proc0 6y ago
  "they cover the trash each night to keep down vermin" shudders
- simon1573 6y ago
  Sand is starting to get scarce. https://www.businessinsider.com/global-sand-shortage-could-cause-damaging-effects-2018-12?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/global-sand-shortage-could-c...
  - iguy 6y ago
    I can't read the article, but in my understanding, sand for concrete is what might be scarce. Because it has to have particles with the right degree of sharp corners. (IIRC, the Saudis import this from Australia or something, because their wind-blown sand is too round.) But glass is much easier.
- cedilla 6y ago
  It's easier, cheaper and less energy intensive than producing new glass. Literally billions of tons of glass are recycled each year.
TylerE 6y ago
Do you think that energy is free? Do you think that heat comes from magic?
- triceratops 6y ago
  Don't we have an oversupply of renewable energy when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, and nowhere to store it?
  - Polylactic_acid 6y ago
    Sometimes and someplaces. Australia regularly has negative power prices due to rooftop solar.
  - fiblye 6y ago
    I'm not too knowledgeable on the process of glass manufacturing, but I know glass takes a pretty high temperature to melt. Mega operations needed for mass manufacture might be different, but smaller scale ones usually heat things up in furnaces burning at thousands of degrees. Not too hard to get that heat by burning fuel, but through wind power? Not sure how it'll be done. Not dismissing it. I just really don't know.
    - bluGill 6y ago
      Wind to heat is easy: just run an electric [arc] furnace. This is how most commercial steel foundries heat iron. this is how Aluminum ore is smelted (the point is the electron exchange, molten metal is a welcome side effect). The above is why aluminum is smelted in low energy cost areas. the above is why my company runs the foundry only for the night shift - the power company gives us a discount for using power at night when they need to keep the base load power plants running even though nobody is using power, which more than makes up for the extra pay we give to for working the night shift. (Now that wind is >50% of the electric mix in my state I wonder if the shifts are changing) In fact most high temperature is generated from electric not fuel. If you burn something to get high temperatures the process is inefficient, turning the fuel into electricity and then the electricity into heat is more efficient (look up carnot efficiency)

ars 6y ago

Glass is also 100% pointless to recycle. The planet's crust is made of glass, it's not exactly a scarce resource, and old glass is environmentally harmless. And in the real world it's virtually never recycled, instead its crushed and used as landfill cover (they cover the trash each night to keep down vermin).

proc0 6y ago
"they cover the trash each night to keep down vermin" shudders
simon1573 6y ago
Sand is starting to get scarce. https://www.businessinsider.com/global-sand-shortage-could-cause-damaging-effects-2018-12?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/global-sand-shortage-could-c...
- iguy 6y ago
  I can't read the article, but in my understanding, sand for concrete is what might be scarce. Because it has to have particles with the right degree of sharp corners. (IIRC, the Saudis import this from Australia or something, because their wind-blown sand is too round.) But glass is much easier.
cedilla 6y ago
It's easier, cheaper and less energy intensive than producing new glass. Literally billions of tons of glass are recycled each year.

TylerE 6y ago

Do you think that energy is free? Do you think that heat comes from magic?

triceratops 6y ago
Don't we have an oversupply of renewable energy when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, and nowhere to store it?
- Polylactic_acid 6y ago
  Sometimes and someplaces. Australia regularly has negative power prices due to rooftop solar.
- fiblye 6y ago
  I'm not too knowledgeable on the process of glass manufacturing, but I know glass takes a pretty high temperature to melt. Mega operations needed for mass manufacture might be different, but smaller scale ones usually heat things up in furnaces burning at thousands of degrees. Not too hard to get that heat by burning fuel, but through wind power? Not sure how it'll be done. Not dismissing it. I just really don't know.
  - bluGill 6y ago
    Wind to heat is easy: just run an electric [arc] furnace. This is how most commercial steel foundries heat iron. this is how Aluminum ore is smelted (the point is the electron exchange, molten metal is a welcome side effect). The above is why aluminum is smelted in low energy cost areas. the above is why my company runs the foundry only for the night shift - the power company gives us a discount for using power at night when they need to keep the base load power plants running even though nobody is using power, which more than makes up for the extra pay we give to for working the night shift. (Now that wind is >50% of the electric mix in my state I wonder if the shifts are changing) In fact most high temperature is generated from electric not fuel. If you burn something to get high temperatures the process is inefficient, turning the fuel into electricity and then the electricity into heat is more efficient (look up carnot efficiency)