Glass

Glass is defined as 'a hard, transparent material, used to make windows, bottles, and other objects'. It is formed from a melt by cooling to rigidity without crystallization and is a usually transparent or translucent material consisting typically of a mixture of silicates'. Crushed glass for recycling is known as Cullet.

Waste Glass picture - source 123 stock images

Overview

Glass is a resource that can be continuously recycled without a decline in quality. The four main constituents of glass are sand, soda ash, limestone and other additives for colour or special treatments, these materials are not in shortage but the quarrying required to obtain them is energy-intensive and has consequential environmental impacts.

Glass is collected by local authorities and waste collection businesses as either a separate stream or as a mixed stream with Dry Recyclables for subsequent sorting at a suitable MRF (although this is increasingly being seen as an impediment to the quality of the other Dry Recyclables as glass breaks and contaminates them).

The first stage of glass processing and recycling is crushing to form what is known as a Cullet, colour sorting is then required prior using in remelt to make new products (i.e. bottles and jars where the colour of the final product is important and fundamentally affected by the colour of the input cullet) although other options include, for example, using cullet (that has not been colour sorted but has been sized and processed appropriately) as a Secondary Aggregate or as a filtration medium.

A large proportion of glass is considered Packaging Waste and the Package Recovery Note target required is sub-divided into a remelt target to ensure glass has a higher financial incentive to go into a remelt use than a 'lower value' aggregate use.

Under Simpler Recycling Glass is categorised as Glass packaging including bottles and jars

Macro Tonnages

The most recent information published by DEFRA is summarized in the pie chart below, with 1,338,153 tonnes of glass waste generated in the UK in 2016 and is part of the broader tonnage summarized in UK Waste Tonnage:

Glass Wastes
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Data Table
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF)	246
Mining and Quarrying (MQ)	290
Industrial (Ind)	64,747
Construction (Con)	129,165
Commercial (Com)	540,378
Household (HH)	603,327

The tonnage reported by local authorities is recorded in WasteDataFlow in the three main colour types and as a mixed colour type, but will exclude that tonnage sent as part of a Comingled Recyclate sent to a MRF and these tonnages are listed below.

Brown Glass

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 5000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

Authority	Stream	Facility	Operator	Address	Material	Tonnes	Reporting Period
Leeds City Council MBC	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	U R M ( U K ) Limited	49 Lidgate Crescent, Langthwaite Grange Ind, South Kirkby, West Yorkshire	Brown glass	12,292.98	Apr21 - Mar22
Edinburgh, City of	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Not Available	Not Available	Brown glass	9,535.93	Jan21 - Dec21
Mid Suffolk District Council	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	U R M ( U K ) Limited	49 Lidgate Crescent, Langthwaite Grange Ind, South Kirkby, West Yorkshire	Brown glass	5,644.51	Apr21 - Mar22
Kirklees MBC	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Glass Recycling ( U K) Ltd	418 Carlton Road, Carlton, Barnsley, South Yorkshire	Brown glass	5,146.41	Apr21 - Mar22

Clear Glass

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 5000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

Authority	Stream	Facility	Operator	Address	Material	Tonnes	Reporting Period
Leeds City Council MBC	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	U R M ( U K ) Limited	49 Lidgate Crescent, Langthwaite Grange Ind, South Kirkby, West Yorkshire	Clear glass	12,292.98	Apr21 - Mar22
Edinburgh, City of	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Not Available	Not Available	Clear glass	9,535.93	Jan21 - Dec21
Merthyr Tydfil CBC	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Bryn Quarry Ltd	Bryn Quarry Ltd, Gellia'R-Gwellt Uchaf, Gelligaer, Hengoed, Caerphilly	Clear glass	6,273.94	Apr21 - Mar22
Mid Suffolk District Council	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	U R M ( U K ) Limited	49 Lidgate Crescent, Langthwaite Grange Ind, South Kirkby, West Yorkshire	Clear glass	5,644.51	Apr21 - Mar22
Kirklees MBC	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Glass Recycling ( U K) Ltd	418 Carlton Road, Carlton, Barnsley, South Yorkshire	Clear glass	5,146.41	Apr21 - Mar22

Green Glass

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 5000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

Authority	Stream	Facility	Operator	Address	Material	Tonnes	Reporting Period
Leeds City Council MBC	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	U R M ( U K ) Limited	49 Lidgate Crescent, Langthwaite Grange Ind, South Kirkby, West Yorkshire	Green glass	12,292.98	Apr21 - Mar22
Edinburgh, City of	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Not Available	Not Available	Green glass	9,535.93	Jan21 - Dec21
Mid Suffolk District Council	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	U R M ( U K ) Limited	49 Lidgate Crescent, Langthwaite Grange Ind, South Kirkby, West Yorkshire	Green glass	5,644.51	Apr21 - Mar22
Kirklees MBC	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Glass Recycling ( U K) Ltd	418 Carlton Road, Carlton, Barnsley, South Yorkshire	Green glass	5,146.41	Apr21 - Mar22

Mixed Glass

Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 13000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

Authority	Stream	Facility	Operator	Address	Material	Tonnes	Reporting Period
Merseyside WDA (MBC)	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Grundy Skip Hire Ltd	Halebank Ind Est, Pickerings Road, Halebank, Widnes, Cheshire	Mixed glass	31,623.53	Apr21 - Mar22
Somerset Waste Partnership	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Recresco Limited - Cwmbran	Recresco Limited, Cwmbran Depot , Springvale Industrial Estate, Cwmbran	Mixed glass	17,914.87	Apr21 - Mar22
Kent County Council	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Countrystyle Recycling Ltd	Countrystyle Recycling Ltd, Ridham Dock Rd, Iwade, Sittingbourne, Kent	Mixed glass	16,882.48	Apr21 - Mar22
Edinburgh, City of	Source segregated recyclate	Reprocessor - recycling (qu19)	Not Available	Not Available	Mixed glass	13,551.55	Jan21 - Dec21