Recycling: Glass



Recycling Glass: Why It’s Important



Recycling is simply the process of taking a substance or a product at the end of its functional existence and reutilizing a part or all of it to produce another item for use. People in today’s world are becoming more and more aware of how important it is to recycle what we use. The responsibility of good stewardship is on our shoulders and to do any less would be considered wasteful and irresponsible.
There are many items that can be recovered and reused again and again, but one of the most popular materials to be recycled is glass. It has very pure ingredients and the processing turnaround time is quite fast when compared to other materials. This material has so many uses that it can be found in everything from pavement to countertops and numerous other products. The primary use is for bottles or containers in one form or another. An interesting fact is that glass can be recycled indefinitely and with no deterioration in quality, yet only about one quarter of glass is produced from reprocessed material.
The recycling process is quite simple, when broken into the main elements They are:
* Collect
* Sort
* Clean
* Crush
* Mix
* Melt
* Mold
* Cool
The first course of action is to collect, sort by color and clean the glass. The next step is to crush it into small gravel-like pieces, which is called “cullet” in the industry. The cullet is then mixed with “virgin” materials, such as soda ash, limestone and silica sand. At this point the entire mixture is placed in a furnace which is heated to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit and melted down to a molten state. This prepares it for the next stage, which is molding. The molten glass is then poured into molds and cooled slowly so it will retain strength and not be brittle.
Some companies only process to the point of cullet production and will ship this out to other manufacturers and they will use the cullet in their own product creations. There is great demand for cullet because it costs much less than producing glass from raw materials.
The downside to glass is it never decomposes, which means it should never be placed in landfills. Unwanted glass can be recycled through curbside recyclable programs and collection bins at local recycling centers.

Written By:- Unknown Author


Source:- ArticleSqueeze

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