Used glass bottles can either be reused or recycled. Beverage companies can collect them
to be refilled as practiced in most European countries. Both procedures
identified in the waste hierarchy are applicable and mostly are supported by
local and national mandates.
Reusing is
preferable to recycling for a variety of reasons. While reusing only requires
collecting the bottles from household and cleaning them for letter use,
recycling involves complicated processes such as breaking, melting, chemical
treatment, forming and annealing. Reusing process avoids consumption of large
amounts of fuels to sustain heat ranging from 1500 to 2500 degrees Celsius for
24 hours without rest.
Moreover, glass
color is a critical factor in glass recycling, so there should be a proper
organization of glass bottle waste according to color. The color of the bottle
indicates the chemical composition of the glasses with different colors. This
is the reason
why there are separate bins for clear, green and amber glass at collection
points.
However, recycling provides
several advantages over re using. Reprocessing the glass material recovers the
glass strength. Even thought glass is known for its ultimate non-biodegradable
property, it still deteriorates over time and with the frequency of use.
Reusing the bottles for several times instead of using recycled glass bottles,
reduces the chemical properties required to cope with the chemical composition
of liquid products, such as carbonated drinks like beer and soda.
Recycling may pose a significant environmental
impact due to carbon emissions during the manufacturing process, but it can be minimized
by finding alternative to natural gas and petroleum, which are non-renewable
fuels. When reusing the bottles, large amount of fresh water, which is also a
non- renewable resource, is needed. Recycled glass bottles also undergo extreme
purifying treatment to get rid of dirt and germs.
In the US, glass bottle
recycling is mandated in different ways. Most of the states have laws requiring
buyers of carbonated drinking to pay a 5 dollar deposits for every bottle,
which can be refunded upon return in commercial stores available in town. The
empty bottles are inserted in a machine where they are counted one at a time. The
glasses are broken to pieces inside the machine before being transported to a
reprocessing station to be made into recycled bottles.
