Glass is heavy and expensive to transport. Faced with high costs, some communities are paying to have the glass specially crushed for use in construction. According to Recycle Across America, “More than 28 billion glass bottles and jars end up in landfills every year - that is the equivalent of filling up two Empire State Buildings every three weeks.” Glass is heavy When recyclers find it too difficult or expensive to separate out glass, they send the entire stream to the landfill. Glass is difficult to sort when broken, and if broken down too finely, glass may become too difficult to reprocess. Most manufacturers require recyclable glass to be sorted by color in order to produce high quality glass bottles and jars. Glass can be hazardousīroken glass is not only a safety hazard to workers, but it can also damage machines at recycling facilities. As a result, glass is increasing processing costs. Since the China import ban, recyclers are increasingly focused on quality and reducing contamination to maintain the value of their recyclable materials.

Broken glass can contaminate other recyclables like paper and cardboard, lowering their value. In a single stream recycling system, glass is increasingly becoming the contaminant. Here’s a breakdown of the issue, and what businesses and municipalities can do to address the problem, and potentially reduce their waste disposal costs. So why is glass no longer being accepted for recycling in some markets? In fact, 93% of residents and consumers expect to be able to recycle glass, r eports the Glass Recycling Coalition. And as a common household item, recycling the material maintains much public support. Recycling glass has many proven environmental benefits–it reduces emissions, saves energy, and reduces consumption of raw materials. Glass is infinitely recyclable without loss in quality. The glass recycling problem: Why is glass no longer being accepted for recycling in many markets?

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