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> Unwanted elements include any kind of glass or glass bottle ?? Isn't this one of the most recyclable materials there is? Even aluminum cans come with contami

> Unwanted elements include any kind of glass or glass bottle ?? Isn't this one of the most recyclable materials there is? Even aluminum cans come with contaminants that can't be removed by the consumer. Regardless, at least you can easily reuse glass jars for home use. I find they make excellent drinking glasses and the reusable lid is a nice perk.

chris_va 5mo ago
Only if there is a local glass processing facility + consumer (e.g. large brewery, etc) is it worthwhile.
wffurr 5mo ago
It takes more energy and work to reuse glass than to just make new glass. Sand is abundant. Recycled aluminum is much less energy intensive than new aluminum even with contaminants.
- smileysteve 5mo ago
  Glass is 30% cheaper to make from recycled glass. But transport and sorting (glass is hard and sharp) eat into that margin, so presort
- Teever 5mo ago
  Is that true if the bottle is reused several times? I know that in some places they standardize the glass beer bottles to one or two types and strongly encourage people to bring the bottles back to the same location that they get beer from. This results in a circular supply chain that sees bottles sterilized and reused many times. The number I heard was an average of 8 uses on average before a bottle gets a chip in it that renders it unsuitable for reuse, and then it is recycled. It seems to me that this tight distribution loop is a key part of successful reuse and recycling endeavours.
  - kube-system 5mo ago
    Yeah it is very cheap and viable to wash/reuse bottles, but this requires special handling and isn't compatible with the single-stream systems widely used in the US. In the US we throw everything into a truck and we expect recyclers to sort and re-melt a bunch of broken shards of assorted glass.
    - RetroTechie 5mo ago
      Oh man, US is so behind the times in this respect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-deposit_legislation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-deposit_legislation In the NL, such 'reverse vending machines' are in every supermarket. They take PET soda bottles, soda cans (since 2023, €0.15 deposit per can), and a few (standardized) types of glass beer bottles. The latter are often bought in crates, which (with empty bottles in them), are taken by the machine as a whole. On average, these beer bottles do ~20 roundtrips between supermarket & brewer. It simply goes in reverse direction along the same logistics chain supplying those supermarkets. Non-deposit glass is collected in containers, seperate by color (clear/brown/green). Those have been around since early '80s or so. These days there's also containers for paper/cardboard, textiles, or even used frying oil/fat. Most supermarkets have smaller bins for batteries & small electronics. Germany even has multi-use PET bottles. From (extensive!) personal experience, these deposit schemes take a HUGE chunk out of beer/soda cans & bottles littered on roadsides, parks etc (some 75% reduction or so). But it is cultural thing too. Most people in European countries care for their environment, energy use etc. Most US people, no so much. Other countries: it varies.
      - kube-system 5mo ago
        Not so much behind the times as it is that we’ve regressed. Reusable glass used to be more of a thing in the US. And deposit schemes gained popularity in the 70s, which some states still have. But the push for single-stream recycling has led many well intentioned people to believe that solution is good enough.
nozzlegear 5mo ago
That's what I thought as well! I was surprised, and a little bit annoyed, to learn that they would prefer we throw away anything glass rather than recycle it.
kube-system 5mo ago
> Isn't this one of the most recyclable materials there is It is! ... if it's unbroken, sorted by type, and in a place where there's demand for it. Unfortunately, those advantages are often compromised by the recycling pipeline itself. Bottles of different types are thrown into trucks, and become unsafe shards of glass that are unsafe to handle and difficult to sort by type. It quickly becomes more trouble than it is worth given that the alternative is sand.

chris_va 5mo ago

Only if there is a local glass processing facility + consumer (e.g. large brewery, etc) is it worthwhile.

wffurr 5mo ago

It takes more energy and work to reuse glass than to just make new glass. Sand is abundant. Recycled aluminum is much less energy intensive than new aluminum even with contaminants.

smileysteve 5mo ago
Glass is 30% cheaper to make from recycled glass. But transport and sorting (glass is hard and sharp) eat into that margin, so presort
Teever 5mo ago
Is that true if the bottle is reused several times? I know that in some places they standardize the glass beer bottles to one or two types and strongly encourage people to bring the bottles back to the same location that they get beer from. This results in a circular supply chain that sees bottles sterilized and reused many times. The number I heard was an average of 8 uses on average before a bottle gets a chip in it that renders it unsuitable for reuse, and then it is recycled. It seems to me that this tight distribution loop is a key part of successful reuse and recycling endeavours.
- kube-system 5mo ago
  Yeah it is very cheap and viable to wash/reuse bottles, but this requires special handling and isn't compatible with the single-stream systems widely used in the US. In the US we throw everything into a truck and we expect recyclers to sort and re-melt a bunch of broken shards of assorted glass.
  - RetroTechie 5mo ago
    Oh man, US is so behind the times in this respect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-deposit_legislation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-deposit_legislation In the NL, such 'reverse vending machines' are in every supermarket. They take PET soda bottles, soda cans (since 2023, €0.15 deposit per can), and a few (standardized) types of glass beer bottles. The latter are often bought in crates, which (with empty bottles in them), are taken by the machine as a whole. On average, these beer bottles do ~20 roundtrips between supermarket & brewer. It simply goes in reverse direction along the same logistics chain supplying those supermarkets. Non-deposit glass is collected in containers, seperate by color (clear/brown/green). Those have been around since early '80s or so. These days there's also containers for paper/cardboard, textiles, or even used frying oil/fat. Most supermarkets have smaller bins for batteries & small electronics. Germany even has multi-use PET bottles. From (extensive!) personal experience, these deposit schemes take a HUGE chunk out of beer/soda cans & bottles littered on roadsides, parks etc (some 75% reduction or so). But it is cultural thing too. Most people in European countries care for their environment, energy use etc. Most US people, no so much. Other countries: it varies.
    - kube-system 5mo ago
      Not so much behind the times as it is that we’ve regressed. Reusable glass used to be more of a thing in the US. And deposit schemes gained popularity in the 70s, which some states still have. But the push for single-stream recycling has led many well intentioned people to believe that solution is good enough.

nozzlegear 5mo ago

That's what I thought as well! I was surprised, and a little bit annoyed, to learn that they would prefer we throw away anything glass rather than recycle it.

kube-system 5mo ago

> Isn't this one of the most recyclable materials there is It is! ... if it's unbroken, sorted by type, and in a place where there's demand for it. Unfortunately, those advantages are often compromised by the recycling pipeline itself. Bottles of different types are thrown into trucks, and become unsafe shards of glass that are unsafe to handle and difficult to sort by type. It quickly becomes more trouble than it is worth given that the alternative is sand.