Glass

Overview

Glass is defined as 'a hard, transparent material, used to make windows, bottles, and other objects'. 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'.

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.

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).

Glass is processed and recycled by crushing into a cullet and then colour sorting as required prior to then putting back into remelt to make new products (i.e. bottles and jars) 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 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:

File:Glass Waste Pie Chart.png

Glass Waste - Tonnage Reported as Generated by DEFRA in 2016

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 2000 tonnes of this material to a single waste operator.

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.