Glass has various applications but do you know it can be recycled and repurposed numerous times? Moreover, this not only saves raw materials but also reduces energy consumption thus decreasing CO2 emissions. Well, this is just one of the many interesting glass recycling facts that we will uncover today. Come let’s find out more!

Fun Glass Recycling Facts

There are several advantages of glass recycling, including eco-friendliness and economic sustainability. It minimizes the burden of dump waste, conserves energy, fights greenhouse gas emissions, and creates jobs.

In some areas, you get paid for recycling glass bottles, or you may get a discount for dumping waste in landfills. Specifically, some states, such as California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and Oregon, have bottle deposit laws. The law requires consumers to pay a fee when buying certain beverages in glass containers and when they return the used containers to the recycle centers they earn their money back.

Glass Recycling Global Market Value 2022-2024

Statistics of glass recycling show that the global glass recovery market size was valued at 3013.2 million US dollars at the end of 2020. It is projected to reach $6277.6 million US dollars by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.9% within the forecast period.

This market contains many factors like raising consumer awareness of the environmental issues that are associated with the disposal of waste glass and the increasing demand for glass products made from recycled glass in different industries. It also includes the positive influence of government regulations and policymaking in the disposal of glass waste and the improvement in the recycling techniques of glass.

Here are the fun recycling information about glass containers:

1. Recycled Glass Demand by Industries of Containers and Fiberglass

Each year the container and fiberglass sectors consume 3.35 million tons of recycled glass, which gets melted down and furnished as fresh goods.

2. Glass Recycling as Natural Resource Savior

One ton of recycled glass conserves about one ton of natural resources.

3. American Glass Manufacturing and Processing Factories

44 plants located in 21 states make glass. Moreover, there are 63 glass recycling facilities, also known as “glass beneficiating” plants, in 30 states. In the recycling centers, the staff wash and select the glass based on the specifications, and in the end, sold to the manufacturing plants for making new food and drink containers.

4. Glass Deposit Laws and Recycling Rates

The Container Recycling Institute has noted that states imposing a deposit for glass containers have achieved an average recycling rate of 63.2%. Also, around 24% of them are recycled in states without such laws.

5. Jobs Creation from Deposit System Compared to Curbside Recycling

Recycling systems collect a refund for beverage containers and may produce 11 to 38 times more jobs than curbside recycling.

6. Recycling Rates of Used Glass Bottles in 2018

interesting facts about recycling glass

As per the U.S. EPA, 39.6% of beer and soft drinks bottles, 39.8% of wine and liquor bottles, and 15.0% of jars for food and other glass products were recycled in 2018. And so overall, 33.1% of all glass containers produced from food and drinks were recycled.

7. In-house Consumption and Returns on Glass Bottles

Around 18 % of drinks are consumed in bars, restaurants, and hotels. Glass accounts for about 80% of all containers.

8. Reduced Weight of the Glass Bottles

Glass bottles are only 40% lighter than 3 decades ago.

9. Job Creation through Glass Waste Recycling

Employment in recycling glass will generate over 8 jobs per every thousand tons of glass that is recycled.

10. Color Distribution Over Glass Bottles or Glass Jars

Glass containers come in 3 colors – 64% are blue, 23% are brown and 13% are green.

11. Recycled Glass Content in New Glass Food Jars

All glass food jars that are newly bought have at least 35% recycled glass in them.

If you are interested to know about recycling steps, go through our blog on How is Glass Recycled?

12. Glass Waste Generation in 1994

glass waste

In 1994, the United States produced about 13.3 million tons of glass waste. whereas 91% of them were part of food and beverage packaging. The other things came from products such as cookware and glassware, home furnishings and plate glass, and so forth.

If interested, also go through Landfills Facts and Stats.

13. All Products Cause Glass Generation in 2018

In 2018, the US produced 12.3 million tons of glass through all products which constituted 4.2% of all the MSW generation.

14. Recycled Glass Use in the US.

Most of these glass are used to make new glass containers. These are also used to make fiberglass and “glasphalt” for making roads.

15. Household Recycling Behavior and Glass Containers

Around 80% of households recycle and 82% of them recycle glass containers and bottles.

16. Recycled Glass Make New Glass Jars

80% of glass containers that have been recycled are usually used to create new glass bottles. In 30 days a glass container would go from a recycling bin to a shelf in a store.

17. Using Cullet in Production Saves Energy

smashing glass bottles

Utilizing 10% more cullet (recycled glass, which is waste from the industry or broken) during the production phase lowers energy costs by up to 2-3%.

18. Recycling Rates of Beer and Soft Drink Bottles in 2009

In 2009 beer bottles and soft drinks achieved a recycling rate of 39%.

19. CO₂ Reduction Through Recycling of Glass

1 ton of CO2 can be reduced by recycling 6 tons of glass.

20 Eco-Friendly Features of Reusing Glass

Glass recovery is, superior to the creation of new glass as it is more environmental-friendly. Saving a glass bottle from becoming waste by recycling it will be equivalent to 4 hours of running a 100-watt light bulb or 20 minutes of watching TV.

For more details, check out the Benefits of Glass Recycling.

Why is Glass Recycling in the United States so Bleak?

This is due to three main reasons:

1. The glass recycling system in the US is nowhere near being optimum. A majority of the communities tend to put all their recyclables into one box, thus, causing the glass to break and contaminate other materials. This consequently decreases the quality and value of the glass, significantly affecting its sales.

Some materials like window glass and ceramics cannot be separated from the other glass containers since they are not compatible with recycling making the whole batch useless.

2. The market of cullet (ground glass) is also very volatile and at a loss. The US always sold its glass recyclables to China until 2018 when trade halted. This resulted in the States with an overstock of glass with no buyers. A lot of the recycling facilities had to let go of the extra glass or burn it.

3. Effective rewards and rules to stimulate glass recycling are extremely scarce. In the US, the country has no federal recycling policy or mandate, leaving the programs to differ greatly by state or city. Some states have container deposit laws that incentivize recycling but many don’t have such laws.

Some states have put certain laws against the use of cullet in the construction, thereby making its application limited. To mend this problem for good, the U.S. should finance better sorting and processing systems, making cullet more available. This will induce regulations that ensure glass recycling in the country.

Also See: How Much Does It Cost to Recycle Fluorescent Tubes and How to Dispose

Future of Glass Recycling

glass recycling facts

In the US the major drawbacks of glass recycling are the contamination of glass by other materials in the single-stream recycling system and the absence of infrastructure and incentives for clean glass collection and transportation to recycling facilities. Therefore, to address the issues, the Glass Packaging Institute and Boston Consulting Group developed a ten-year plan to achieve a 50% recycling rate and a 50% recycled content rate for glass inside the country till the year 2030.

The plan has three pillars: leave no bottle behind, reform the recycling system, and community initiative. Through this plan, the USA can acquire the respective environmental, economic, and social benefits of glass recycling like decreasing waste, saving energy, job creation and maintaining a circular economy among others.

Recycling of glass is effective for the environment, economy, and society. However, many people do not know much about the facts and difficulties of glass recycling. Therefore, it is mandatory to increase public awareness and expand reprocessing and remelting technology, hoping that glass becomes a lasting and recyclable material of the future.

Recommended: Is Glass Recycling Profitable – 7 Glass Recycling FAQs

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Olivia is committed to green energy and works to help ensure our planet's long-term habitability. She takes part in environmental conservation by recycling and avoiding single-use plastic.

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