GLASS INFORMATION SHEET

Glass has been used by humans for thousands of years; the rst glass container dates back to 1500 B.C. On a more local level, glass was manufactured near the village of Chiddingford, West Sussex in the 13th century. Glass forms part of our everyday lives, for example: Transportation - Vehicle windscreens and mirrors. Health and Living - Food and drinks packaging, lenses, drinking glasses and ornaments. Construction - Buildings, window panes, insulation and lighting. Did you know? Blue glass should be placed in green glass bottle banks.

Types of Glass
Container Glass - Bottles and jars. Glass is used widely as a packaging material for food and drink because of its chemical properties. Clear glass is produced from sand, soda ash and limestone. Other minerals are added for coloured glass. Flat Glass - Windows and car windscreens. Lead Glass - Drinking glasses, decanters, CRTs in televisions and medical equipment. Borosilicate Glass - Ovenware and heat resistant glass, know as Pyrex. Also used in laboratory apparatus and high intensity lighting. Glass Fibre - Insulating materials, optical bres, used in reinforced plastics and cement.

Recycling Glass
Glass is an ideal material for recycling. It can be recycled over and over again without any loss in quality. Glass recycling saves energy - When using recycled glass to make new glass less energy is needed in the furnace to melt the recycled glass. Glass recycling reduces landll - Recycling glass can reduce the amount of waste disposed of in landll sites. If glass is buried in landll it remains there indenitely and a resource is lost forever. Glass recycling reduces quarrying - Raw materials are quarried from our landscape to manufacture glass. Using recycled glass limits the amount of quarrying.

What can I recycle?

Glass, bottles and jars only. Any colour - clear, green, blue and brown. Make sure you put the glass container in the correct colour bottle bank.

Can I recycle other types of glass?

No. Never deposit window glass, pyrex, glass crockery and light bulbs in bottle banks.

Where can I recycle?

Bottle banks - containers called bottle banks are provided by all district and borough councils. Situated at supermarket car parks and community recycling sites. Household Waste Recycling Sites - All HWRS in West Sussex provide bottle banks for all colours of glass. Kerbside recycling collections - Very few district and borough councils currently collect glass from the kerbside due to material contamination and health and safety reasons. CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL.

How is glass recycled?

Glass bottles and jars collected for recycling are transported to a glass treatment plant where contaminants (paper, metal, plastics, organics etc) are removed. The recovered glass is known as cullet. To make new bottles and jars: Colour separated glass is transported to a glass works. Glass is crushed and washed. Up to 90% cullet is mixed with raw materials (sand, soda ash, limestone), fed into a furnace and melted. Once melted the glass is cut into individual pieces called Gobs. Gobs are pressed and blown into shape using moulds forming either bottles or jars. Bottles and jars are lled with food and drink. Taken to retailers, pubs, restaurants etc for sale to consumers. Other uses for recycled glass: Mixed glass cannot be used to make new containers because colour purity is essential. It must go to alternative uses. As the UK has more green glass in the form of imported wine bottles than can be used domestically, alternative markets must be found. Recycled glass is used as a road laying material; glasphalt. Glasphalt contains about 30% recycled glass and it has been estimated that approximately 14 million used glass bottles make up the M6 motorway. Other uses include bre glass manufacture and material wool insulation.

September 2006