Recycling Bottles - What Are the Benefits

Recycle - taking a product or material at the end of its useful life and turning it into a usable raw material to make another product. 

  

What are the Benefits of Recycling?

Recycling is a proven way to reduce air and water pollution, reduce energy consumption and decrease greenhouse gases emissions linked to global warming. The glass containing your soda today might be the glass containing your spaghetti sauce tomorrow. That's because glass, especially glass food and beverage containers, can be recycled over and over again. 

In fact, 90 percent of recycled glass is used to make new containers. Recycling glass saves energy as compared to using raw ingredients to make new glass. The Glass Packaging Institute notes that energy costs drop about 2-3% for every 10% of recycled glass used in the manufacturing process. 

Besides being cost effective, glass bottle recycling also reduces resource use and pollution from CO2 emissions.

 Manufacturers Need Your Bottles.

 

Beverage container recycling has been declining in recent years despite increased public knowledge of the benefits of recycling. 

However, the amount of beverage containers that are being sold and consumed has increased over time, which means we're disposing of more material that is needed by manufacturers to meet single-serving beverage container demand.

When we recycle, glass bottles and jars go from recycling bin to store shelf in as little as 30 days. An estimated 80% of recovered glass containers are made into new glass bottles.

Recycling Conserves Resources.

There is only a finite amount of resources on this planet. Although some are renewable, our demand for resources is very high. By recycling, we reduce our demand for raw material to make the products we use.

We return valuable materials back into the economic system, creating jobs, supporting businesses, and reducing our rate of resource consumption.

 Recycling Glass Helps the Environment.

Environmental payoffs – Glass is 100% recyclable.  Recycling glass bottles and jars minimizes consumption of raw materials and lessens demand for energy. It also keeps this valuable resource out of landfills. 

The glass recycling process is a closed-loop system, creating no additional waste or by-products. For container glass, a relative 10% increase in cullet reduces particulates by 8%, nitrogen oxide by 4%, and sulfur oxides by 10%. And, for every six tons of recycled container glass used, one ton of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is reduced.

Saves raw material - or every ton of glass recycled, over a ton or raw materials are saved, including 1,300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash, 380 pounds of limestone, and 160 pounds of feldspar.

Lowers the bottom-line - Using recycled glass can cut overall production costs by minimizing consumption of raw materials, lowering energy demands, and extending life of the furnace and other equipment.

Reduces landfill dependence -Recycling glass helps to preserve natural resources while lessening the load on landfills—and helping communities avoid expensive disposal costs.