GLASS AS A SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE TO PLASTIC
KEYWORDS:
Glass recycling
Sustainable alternative to plastic
Over the past few decades, plastic has increasingly polluted the environment. It is accumulating in landfills, the natural environment and the ocean, releasing microscopic particles of plastic instead of naturally degrading. Every year, around 8 million metric tons of plastic enter our oceans alone, not counting landfill waste and the plastic ending up in other parts of nature. So far, this has added up to approximately 150 million metric tons currently present in the ocean.
Needless to say that the plastic pollution crisis is serious and needs to be tackled as soon as possible. One of the ways we can decrease our production of plastic is by using alternative materials – such as glass. In this article, let’s talk about the production of glass, why it is a great alternative to plastic and how it can help us avoid the increasing plastic pollution of our world.
How is glass made?
One of the main reasons why glass is such an efficient material is the raw material it uses in the production process. Glass waste and sand, which are both abundant resources, are usually used to produce new glass items.
When made from sand, the material is heated to very high temperatures to the point when it melts, creating a basis for glass. The same can be done with glass waste, only the temperature does not need to be nearly as high.
Glass recycling vs plastic recycling
As mentioned before, plastic has many problems, one of which is its complicated recycling process. In short, there are many different types of plastic and they can’t be recycled together. Besides that, plastic can only be recycled a few times, often just once, before it becomes unrecyclable. The correct term to use is, in fact, not recycling but downcycling.
Glass, on the other hand, can be recycled indefinitely! Across the world, glass recycling rates usually vary between 50% and 80% but go down significantly in the US, where the recycling process for glass has many faults. This means that a significant amount of materials that have already been produced gets reshaped and used again. Less energy is required to melt glass waste than to melt sand when creating glass products, making the recycling process much more energy efficient than the production of new glass. Glass recycling also produces very little waste, especially when compared to the recycling of other materials.
The reusability of glass
Besides the opportunity to recycle glass, there is also the option to reuse it without the need for recycling. Some countries or separate companies have created a system within which a glass bottle or jar can be returned to the manufacturer who reuses it. However, even if this is not available, you can still reuse jars and bottles within your household to store food, plant herbs or put your homemade skincare products in!
