How glass is recycled

Do you recycle? Each day, you probably have many opportunities to recycle. For
example, your school might have recycling bins set up, so that you can recycle all
sorts of products, from paper to plastic. You might also have recycling bins set up at
home for aluminium, cans or newspapers.

Your parents might also have recycling bins where they work. Have you learned
about the importance of recycling? The natural resources available on Earth are
being used up by the billions of people who live here.

We all need to learn to reduce the amount of resources we use. We also need to try
to reuse items as often as possible. If we can't reuse items, we must strive to recycle
items, so that they can be used over and over again.

But can everything be recycled? No, not all things can be recycled. But you might be
surprised to learn how many things can be recycled. In addition to aluminium cans,
plastic bottles and all sorts of paper, you can also recycle glass !

You probably use all sorts of glass items. Just check your refrigerator at home. How
many glass jars and bottles do you see? If you're like most people, you probably use
over 80 pounds of glass items every year.

Although glass is fragile and can break easily, it can be recycled and used again to
make all sorts of things. Unfortunately, most people only recycle a small portion of
the glass they use. Recycling glass can help the environment, though, because
recycling glass causes less air and water pollution and uses less energy than
producing new glass.

When glass arrives at a recycling plant, people and machines sort it by color. Similar
colors of glass must be recycled together, so that recycled products are as pure as
possible to maximize their strength and prevent breakage.

Once glass is sorted by color, it's washed thoroughly to remove any dirt or other
impurities. Once the glass has been sorted and clean, the breaking begins. That's
right! The recycling process begins with the crushing of the glass into a raw material
called cullet.

Glass manufacturers love cullet, because it's cheaper than the raw materials they'd
otherwise need to produce new glass. It also melts at a lower temperature, so they
save energy during the production process.

Glass manufacturers mix cullet with other materials like limestone, sand, and soda
ash, and heat it to over 2600º F to make liquid glass, which can then be poured into
a mold to cool and form a finished glass product.

Most recycled glass is used to make new glass containers, such as jars and bottles.
However, recycled glass can also find its way into all sorts of other products,
including fiberglassinsulation, ceramic tiles and a variety of construction products.
How paper is recycled?

People in record numbers are recycling paper at work and at home. Last year, in fact,
20 million tons of paper were recycled—a big increase from the previous year. Paper
recycling has now become an important part of the daily lives of many Americans.

Believe it or not, paper recycling has even become a big business. Today, industry
recycles paper not just because it is a good thing to do, but because it makes good business
sense. Since Americans throw away more paper than anything else, there is a lot to be gained
by recycling paper. For example, Fort Howard Corporation of Green Bay, Wisconsin, produces
tissue made entirely of recycled paper. Foreign countries are even buying our paper waste. If
you see a MADE IN TAIWAN tag on a paper product, at another time it was probably a
newspaper in America. Taiwan buys all of its paper from the United States.

The process of paper recycling is a simple one. First, paper is collected and sorted.
Recyclable paper includes typing paper, newspaper, cardboard, scrap paper, index cards, and
computer printouts. This recyclable paper is dumped into a vat of water and chemicals. A
large spinning blade mixes the paper to a pulp. This pulp is dried on screens, and the new
paper is formed on cylinders. Newspapers, cereal and shoe boxes, toilet tissue, paper towels,
building insulation, egg cartons, and even livestock bedding are made from recycled paper.

Not all types of paper can be recycled. Most recycling equipment cannot handle
envelopes, carbon paper, glossy paper, photographs, or paper with scotch tape, glue, or
staples in it. These types of paper must be sorted out. However, new equipment is being
developed now to work with these items. For example, equipment is almost ready to remove
ink from glossy magazine and catalog paper so that it can be recycled.

Although landfills are still filling up with waste, recycling is becoming a success story.
About 40 percent of plastics, 45 percent of paper, and 60 percent of aluminum are recycled.
Thousands of community programs are in place to recycle paper products. Big business has
discovered the advantages of making paper products that can be reused many times. People
seem to realize that recycling is the right thing to do to help clean up America and make it a
better place to live.