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Unfortunately glass isn’t recycled here. I’ve been trying to figure out why. Probably more common in places that have glass production.
by declan_roberts 3y ago
Unfortunately glass isn’t recycled here. I’ve been trying to figure out why.
Probably more common in places that have glass production.
- hinkley 3y agoFrom what I understand they want a mix of recycled and virgin glass to maximize the characteristics of the glass. Once upon a time they used to reuse coke and beer bottles, not just recycle them.
- bombcar 3y agoI've heard (but am not sure) that the (energy) cost of transporting the empties + washing/sanitizing them may be more than making new ones. At least the dollar cost is higher, or they'd still do it (some local milk farms wash and reuse their jugs, so at some low level it's still efficient).
- hinkley 3y agoI wonder if that was true when Coke had licensees in every town handling the bottling? I don’t think people appreciate what a franchising operation Coke is. Because they don’t have names.
- bombcar 3y agoThe shorter the distances the easier to break even, which could probably be done with a bit of effort. I wonder if the loss of glass had more to do with plastic ease of use (no bottle openers) than directly cost.
- hinkley 3y agoHeavy packaging definitely loses as miles travelled increases. Years ago Method defended using thin walled, but non recyclable plastics for their products based on a bunch of factors, including miles traveled, product to packaging ratios, and the recovery percentage of plastic containers. Unlike aluminum and glass, only a fraction of the feedstock comes out of the process. So if you have an HDPE recycling process that’s 25% effective, you could keep an equal amount of material out of the landfill by making a product with 3/4 the material of HDPE. Which they did (and more) with blister packs. They list them as recyclable now, but <gestures at the thread> and I think they did the right thing at the time regardless.
- Zancarius 3y agoSame here. I've heard a litany of excuses, but the most common one bubbled up into a documentary (?) I saw a few years ago on YT claiming that it's more cost effective to manufacture new glass than to recycle old glass. Which just seems insane to me but is probably true (colored/dyed glass mixed in with clear? I don't know). Our landfill had a recycling center for glass for a number of years, but it was essentially just one guy who was a landscaper/glass blower (or some such). He'd come about once a month to pick through what he wanted and the rest would get tossed. I guess he retired or moved, because they don't do that anymore...
- calebegg 3y agoGlass recycling is very efficient, but manufacturing new glass is just cheaper. So without a government subsidy, it's usually not worth it for the recycling plant.
- bombcar 3y agoGlass is sand. Even for all the separating and such, most of it is "recycled" by using it for fill, because sand is plentiful. The best thing for glass is reuse.
- wreckdropibex 3y agoYou would think sand is plentiful, but eg https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191108-why-the-world-is-running-out-of-sand https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191108-why-the-world-is....
- Ekaros 3y agoI have been wondering about this in context of glass... With concrete and such applications you cannot have too smoot sand, but is it same for glass? As you are going to melt it anyway, it shouldn't matter if it is not usable in concrete...