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The most important material in the history of mankind
Photo by Josh Sorenson from Pexels
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Glass was first manufactured in Syria thousands of years ago. However, before this, humans relied on a volcanic rock called obsidian, which looked like glass. This rock was used to make arrowheads, jewelry, knives, and even used as money by ancient men.
Since the initial manufacture of glass up till this moment, there have been countless improvements in glass production and the industry. Today, glass is used to make beautiful art and plays a crucial role in beautifying cathedrals, churches, and buildings worldwide.
There are currently a lot of companies that are into glass manufacturing today. However, much more than just manufacturing glass, it is essential that glass is recycled as well. Failure to recycle glass will lead to wastage of resources. Any organization looking to grow and aspiring to become prominent in the glass production industry must look for ways to avoid wastage by ensuring that they are recycled.
Glass recycling isn’t a new practice in the world. Organizations and communities have adopted it across the globe. It’s possible to save a lot of glass by using glass bottle containers. Numerous glass packaging companies prefer recycled glass because it requires less energy to process than when creating new ones.
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Here are a few facts that you should know about glass recycling:
It is possible to recycle glass endlessly, one hundred percent, without losing the quality or purity of the glass.
Manufacturing glass is cheap because of the easy accessibility of the materials used in making glass. Some common materials such as sand, cullet, soda ash, and limestone are ingredients used for making glass, and these materials can be found almost everywhere in the world.
The material that is most used in large quantities than cullet for making glass is sand. These ingredients are mixed up together and put through the heat of about 2800 degrees Fahrenheit. Then they are molded into the desired shape.
Waste is drastically reduced during glass recycling because about 95% of the materials used to manufacture the glass are substituted.
Glass manufacturing has benefited a lot from glass recycling due to reduced raw materials and glass emissions. This helps to save energy and also improves the life expectancy of equipment used for making glass.
The market demand for glass is constantly changing, so glass manufacturers need recycled glass of very high quality to create new glass containers.
Recycled glass is needed to create new glass. The more recycled glass is used in the manufacturing process, the lesser the amount of energy used in the furnace. So recycling glass is much more profitable for manufacturers and also for the world at large.
The glass containers that are used in the beverage and food industries are also recyclable. However, one important thing to know is that there are several types of glass, and the manufacturing process for the different types is not the same. Some of the types of glass are windows, Pyrex, crystal, ovenware, etc. Mixing several types of glass while manufacturing new glass may lead to the production of containers of low quality.
In order to manufacture high-quality glass, the cullet must not have contaminants such as metals, ceramics, and gravels in it.
One way to increase the quality and efficiency of glass while manufacturing is to use colors to sort the containers. Usually, there’s a limitation for glass manufacturers regarding the 3-mix or cullet with mixed cullet used in the manufacture of containers. Separating recycled glasses with color will help improve the standard of production and meet the customers’ expectations.
Not all recycled glass containers can be used to manufacture new glass jars because some of the recycled glasses are either contaminated heavily or are small pieces that cannot be used for manufacturing. These glasses can also be used for pavements, parking lots, blasting sand, and making tiles.
To be successful with a recycling program, it is important that the glasses don’t have contaminants in them. When containers free of contaminants are used to manufacture glass, the quality of the manufactured glass improves significantly. The curbside glass collection is good. However, programs for commercial glass collections always result in a glass of high quality.
Glass recycling is good, not just for organizations. It is also good for the public and helps to reduce the wholesale and retail price of glass and preserve the environment. Organizations that take glass recycling seriously will improve the efficiency of their production process and grow very quickly.
It will be helpful for glass manufacturing companies to put recycle containers in strategic locations and enhance the quality of their recyclables by using commercial services. The effectiveness of an organization in sorting and eliminating contaminants from the glass will determine the quality of its recyclables. The key to the future is to embrace glass recycling. It is also crucial for today’s success.
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