molded into the various products and sold in the markets

Undergo decolorizing process

Dyeing
Diferent chemical will be based on the color of the glass
Erbium oxide and manganese oxide are used to produce clear
recycled galss

Melting

Remove unwanted materials

Paper, metal, ceramic will be removed
manual or automatic process

Crushing and Grinding

The glass is crushed into tiny pieces called gullet

Making
Recycled
Glass
Products

Decolorizing
and Dyeing

Making
Recycled
Glass

Remove
Contaminant
s

Produce
Glass Gullet

Sorting
Colors Separation
Manual or Automatic Sorting

Glass Recycling Process Chart

The Detail Of Each Process Stage For Glass Recycling

Sorting
In this process, the unwanted glass will be sorted accordingly by their colors. This is because
different chemicals need to be added to different colored waste glass to produce recycled
glass of the desired color. The unwanted glass sent by the collector or distributor often mixed
with ceramics, stones and porcelain (CSP) need to be remove from the glass before moving
into the next stage. Color sorting machine or manual sorting technique will be carried out in
this stage.

Processing: Producing glass cullet

After the glass has been sorted according to their color, it will be conveyed to crushing and
grinding machine to make it into tiny pieces. This finely crushed glass pieces are referred to
as cullet.

Processing: Removing contaminants

The contaminants from the glass cullet will be removed in the next stage in the glass recycle
process.
The glass cullet is passed through a magnetic field, where metal contaminants like metal
bottle caps are removed from the glass. Other contaminants like paper and plastic are picked
up manually or through an automated process.
Ceramic contaminants are removed from the glass cullet via a process known as fine sizing.
The finely ground glass cullet is passed through various screens, leaving behind ceramic
residues.
If, however, ceramic contaminants do pass through the various screens together with the glass
cullet, the quality of the recycled glass will be affected. Ceramic contaminants in glass can
lead to structural defects.

Processing: Making recycled glass

The next stage of glass recycle process involves the melting of the cullet. This glass cullet can
then be used in manufacturing recycled glass products like new glass containers, bottles etc.

Processing: Decolorizing and dyeing

The recycled glass has to undergo decolorizing process which followed by dyeing in order to
produce recycled glass of the desired glass.
The first step in the decolorizing process includes oxidizing the melted glass cullet.

For green glass, the oxidation process turns the deep dark green color to yellow-green color.
A chemical known as manganese oxide is then mixed with the glass cullet to it grey. The grey
base is usually used as the primary color to which various other coloring dyes or agents are
added to develop glass of various colors.
For brown or amber-colored glass, zinc oxide is added instead to oxidize the brown glass
cullet to blue or green cullet, depending on the quantity of zinc oxide added and the richness
of the brown or amber-colored glass being recycled.
If the clear recycled glass is required, erbium oxide and manganese oxide are added to the
glass cullet to help clear all the colors from the glass cullet.
Some of the most commonly used coloring agents for dyeing of recycled glass include borax,
potassium permanganate, zinc oxide, erbium oxide, cobalt carbonate, neodymium oxide, and
titanium dioxide.

Processing: Making recycled glass products

In the last stage of the glass recycling process, the recycled glass, colored or clear, is then
molded into the various products and sold in the markets.