Glass can replace plastic, and its production is easy to organize so that it is
Can glass be recycled?
Yes, glass can be used an infinite number of times without losing any properties.But most of the countries – except for the European ones – are still burying tonsto landfills.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2018 alone, the United States dumped about 7 million tons into landfillsTo understand the volumes, this is 5.2% of all MSW (municipal solid waste) in the United States.
Researchers are now working to reduce the use of plastics and are actively looking for materials with new properties.But glass doesn't need to be invented, and it also has a lot of potential.
What is the potential of glass?
On Earth, about 86 million tons are produced due to glass productionMost of these emissions can be offset during recycling.It is also possible to make glass production carbon-free with the help of existing technologies.
Glass is made by heating limestone,sand and soda ash up to 1500 °C. Natural gas provides this heat: it accounts for up to 85% of emissions during production. The rest is chemical reactions between raw materials.
Also, the materials can be partially replaced with recycled glass.No CO2 is emitted during cullet melting.It also doesn't take such a high temperature to melt it: this way you can further save carbon.
European Container Glass Federationstated that for a 10% increase in cullet, CO2 emissions would decrease by 5%. But even here there are limitations. For example, window glass is made strictly without impurities.
Why do we still not recycle glass in bulk?
There are many reasons for this, but some of the questions about glass recycling still need to be studied.For example, governments need to know how much money is needed to develop a system for collecting and recycling glass in order to allocate appropriate resources.
Glass also weighs more than plastic. Because of this, when replacing one with another, transport costs and emissions will increase.
Which countries recycle glass today?
Today, Europe is an advanced region that is the most active in processing75% of the glass that is used for containers, such as bottles, is collected to be recycled.
Therefore, new glass, which is produced inEuropean Union, 52% consists of already used material. Glass container companies plan to start collecting 90% of all container glass waste in the EU by 2030.
In other countries, the situation is more complicated: there is no information on how glass is recycled.Since not everyone writes reports on the results of this work.In addition, there is still no international organization that would collect information about this type of recycling.
Head of the Glass Union of Russian EnterprisesViktor Osipov says that about 15 to 20 million tons of glass of various types are poured in the country annually, and 5-7 million tons are collected for re-melting. The rest usually ends up in landfills.
But there are countries that are developing in this matter. America recycles about 31% of glass containers. The amount of recycled packaging is going to be raised to 50% by 2030.
The Johannesburg-based glass recycling company has also launched its project and was able to raise the amount of recycled glass across South Africa from 18% in 2006 to 42% between 2018 and 2019.On the other hand, there are countries that do not report such initiatives and do not discloseinformation on the amount of recycled glass, such as Brazil, China and India.
How to start recycling glass?
Legislation is needed to determine how to reduce waste and force production to regulate this process.In this way, companies will have an incentive to develop recycling.
It is also possible to reduce the amount of carbon by excluding it as a componentFor example, the FEVE pilot project is creating aThe glass is powered by electricity and does not use natural gas.
Glass is a crucial material, and it can be made almost carbon-free in a relatively short period of time.It is necessary to create laws that will control the proper collection and recycling of waste, as well as introduce a banIn turn, communities and companies need to create the necessary technical conditions to collect and recycle glass.
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