Glass is infinitely recyclable, able to be repeatedly melted down and formed into new containers without losing its quality or purity. Every tonne of glass that is recycled saves an astonishing 246kg of CO2 emissions. The fact that glass is infinitely recyclable makes it the perfect material to promote a healthy circular economy.

Environmental Benefits of Glass Recycling

The environmental benefits of glass recycling are significant. It has astounding benefits beyond the obvious one of reducing waste going into landfills.

• Glass produced from recycled glass reduces related emissions to air by 20%
• Water use is also reduced by 50%
• Compared to virgin glass, recycled glass cullet melts at a lower temperature. So, energy is saved in the glass making process
• For every 1kg of glass bottles made from cullet, 1.2kg of virgin materials are saved
• For every 3,000 recycled glass bottles, 1,000kg of refuse is saved from landfill

How is Glass Recycled?

So, how is glass recycled? That is entirely dependent on what region of the United Kingdom you live in. We operate on a mixture of kerbside collection and bottle bank systems (check your local council website for information on your local recycling options). But beyond where it is you take your bottles to be recycled, the recycling process itself is the same across the board.

Waste glass that is processed to be recycled is called cullet. Glass manufacturers can use it to manufacture new bottles and jars, but also items such as fibre glass and windows. So, demand for high quality cullet is always high.

So, after someone deposits their used glass in bottle banks or the glass is collected kerbside, it is taken from collection points to a treatment plant. At the treatment plant the glass is washed to remove impurities and either sorted by colour or placed into a mixed batch to be used for green glass. Then when we receive the glass, our process goes a little like this…

1. Cullet is added to our furnaces alongside raw materials to form molten glass
2. The molten glass is then moulded into beautiful new bottles and jars in the Hot End
3. The bottles are then moved into the lehrs, where they are cooled
4. Thorough inspection processes are then undertaken in the Cold End.
5. Rejected glass goes back to the beginning of the cycle to be crushed and remelted (we don’t waste any of our reject bottles at Allied)
6. Approved containers are then put onto pallets and wrapped before being transported.

And that is it!   At Allied we work on an entirely closed loop system. Containers which are rejected during either the manufacturing or inspection process are simply fed back into the system to be re-melted and re-made.  Leaving nothing behind.

Can all glass be recycled?

It is amazing, that even poor-quality cullet, that is not strong enough to be re-melted and reformed (usually due to it containing too much non-glass material), has its uses. It can be used as an additive in building materials, for water filtration, as aggregate or blast cleaning. This type of recycling is referred to as open-loop recycling as it isn’t being put back into the same product that it was originally used for.

Closed-loop recycling of glass is always the most environmentally beneficial option, but even lower quality cullet can be reused in some form, making it the perfect material to promote a circular economy.

Sustainability at Verallia

We are constantly pushing to implement greener practices and lead the way in sustainable glass manufacture and aid in promoting a circular economy. If you are interested in developing exquisite glass creations with sustainability at the core of its design, get in contact with our team.