Glass Facts
- Approximately 30 billion glass containers are produced in the USA each year
- Virgin glass is made from sand, soda ash, limestone and limited amounts of recycled glass called cullet
- Approximately 11 million tons of glass containers are discarded as municipal solid waste each year
- Glass is endlessly recyclable
- Only 3 million tons of glass are recycled each year while the remaining 8 million tons are sent to landfills at a cost of almost $300 million a year to the taxpayer
- Recycled glass, or cullet, is highly desirable and valuable material for use in manufacture of glass because:
-
It costs less than virgin raw material
-
It melts at a lower temperature
-
It reduces air pollutants released during the manufacturing process
- Container glass furnaces are designed to continually produce large quantities of glass over a period of more than 20 years. These furnaces range in output from 150 tons of glass per day to over 600 tons per day