The Recycle for Cornwall campaign has been developed to raise public awareness of recycling and to provide consumers with a compelling reason to recycle.
The oldest examples of glass we know of are Egyptian beads dating from 12,000 BC. Since this time processes for making and shaping glass have developed across the world and in the UK traces of these processes have been left behind in our language. The delightful phrase ‘Shut yer gob': is derived from the glass making process. A molten lump of glass is called a 'gob' to which a glass blower attaches a tube to blow the glass into shape. The blower had to blow hard which made his cheeks very large. Today someone with a big mouth is told they have a big gob. (www.britglass.org.uk)
Today glass is used as a packaging material, for glazing, for decoration and much more besides. Not only is glass 100% recyclable, it can also be endlessly recycled with no loss in quality. In 2001 the UK glass industry recycled 587,000 tonnes of glass, saving not only a huge amount of resources but also contributing to reduced energy consumption by the industry. Each bottle that is made from recycled glass instead of raw materials saves enough energy to power a washing machine for 10 minutes.
There are more than 23,000 bottle banks across the UK which can hold a staggering 69 million bottles. In Cornwall there are bottle banks across the county as well as glass bottle and jar recycling collections available to 95% of residents through a fortnightly collection service.
How are glass bottles and jars recycled into new ones?
Glass bottles and jars collected from recycling centres are sent to a reprocessing centre where they are crushed into ‘cullet’.
This cullet is put into a furnace with a small amount of raw materials (sand, soda ash and limestone) and at 1600°C the furnace melts the glass. The molten glass flows like hot toffee out of the furnace into the bottle or jar-making machine.
Thick strands of glass start to stretch down from the machine. These are cut into short pieces called gobs.
Each gob drops down into a bottle or jar shaped mould. A plunger is pushed down into the liquid glass to make a hole which air is blown into; pushing the glass into the shape of the mould.
The shaped bottles and jars are taken from the moulds along a conveyor belt into an oven called the lehr. The glass is reheated to 550°C and then slowly cooled ensuring strength, this process is called annealing. The bottles and jars are sprayed with a liquid which helps them to move smoothly along the conveyor belts.
Finally each jar and bottle is checked to make sure that it is well made and after this check it is ready to be refilled!
Then the recycling loop begins again.
Other Glass Facts
Saving energy! In 2001 the energy saved by recycling glass instead of making new would have been enough to launch 10 space shuttle missions. The energy saved from recycling one bottle could: power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour, power a computer for 25 minutes or a colour TV for 20 minutes!
Lets hit the road! Crushed glass is often used in the foundations of roads and can even be used decoratively in gardens.
Cheers! Green Glass, a company based in Wadebridge in North Cornwall use glass bottles in a very clever way without even having to melt them down- to make new drinking glasses!
