Glass
Overview
Glass is defined as 'a hard, transparent material, used to make windows, bottles, and other objects'[1]. 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'[2].
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[3].
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.
Macro Tonnages
The most recent information published by DEFRA [4] [5]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:
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 12292.98 |
| Edinburgh, City of | Source segregated recyclate | Reprocessor - recycling (qu19) | Not Available | Not Available | Brown glass | 9535.93 |
| 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 | 5644.51 |
| Kirklees MBC | Source segregated recyclate | Reprocessor - recycling (qu19) | Glass Recycling ( U K) Ltd | 418 Carlton Road, Carlton, Barnsley, South Yorkshire | Brown glass | 5146.41 |
Clear Glass
Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 2000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.
Green Glass
Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 2000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.
Mixed Glass
Below is a list of local authorities that sends more than 2000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.
References
- ↑ Cambridge Dictionary, 2019. GLASS | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Cambridge.org. [online] [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].
- ↑ Marriam-Webster, 2019. Definition of GLASS. Merriam-webster.com. [online] [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].
- ↑ Recyclenow, 2019. How are glass bottles recycled? | Recycle Now. Recyclenow.com. [online] [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].
- ↑ Digest of Waste Resources 2018 reporting data from 2016
- ↑ UK Statistics on Waste 2019 updating some of the 2018 Digest with 2017 data