Some Glass Facts
100% Recyclable Glass (Forever).
In excess of 67% of all glass in the form of bottles and jars in the EU are taken for recycling. This is the equivalent to 25 billion jars and bottles or 11 million tons being collected around europe. It is interesting to know that over 80% of these are actually recycled by glassmakers in europe to make new bottles and jars. Glass itself is 100% recyclable and can be reused an for ever in a closed loop system. A recycling closed loop means a material can be used over and over again in a closed loop system like for glass bottles. This avoids downcycling, landfill or incineration and it is therefore key to a green and efficient Europe. The EU’s waste experts, after prevention and reuse, think that recycling is the best environmental option over energy recovery and landfill. London Glazing recycle all glass.
Nature.
Glass comes from natural, sustainable and very abundant materials like sand, soda ash and limestone. Glass is not made from scarce resources such as oil, and therefore it helps to prevent the exploitation of fossil fuels. The glass production actual needs energy to melt the raw materials and also the recycled glass but this energy is not obtained from fossil fuels such as oil. Glass can be made with practically any energy source. The use of fossil fuel is actually very recent in the more than 2500 years of glassmaking. Wherever possible, the part of fossil CO2 emissions arising from burning fossil fuels to melt glass could be greatly reduced by switching to renewable or low carbon energy sources. London Glaziers are professionals with glass.
No Problem For Landfill.
There is no need for glass to go into any landfill site or even be incinerated because glass can be recycled 100%. This attribute gives glass the real chance to become a zero waste packaging material. However, even if it does happen to end up in landfill, the used glass bottles and jars are what is called inert and are a non-hazardous waste material. Container Glass under EU law [1] is considered inert and this means it is without risk of contaminating the environment. Also glass will not be found polluting the worlds seas.