Glass Recycling Key Terms

Learn the meaning of the terms associated with glass recycling

Regardless of your type of business, glass recycling is an important element to include in a green workplace. It not only helps to create new glass bottles and containers for drinking, but it is also used to make sand, concrete and building materials. Not all types of glass can be recycled together, and the type or color of the glass can affect the outcome of the recycled product. Most types of glass can be recycled an infinite number of times, so it is important to stay up- to-date on glass recycling key terms.

 

Colored glass

Some glass drinking bottles and other pieces of colored glass are created by adding a coloring agent to the manufacturing process. This coloring agent can never be removed. Glass that is a certain color before the recycling process-whether that color is flint, amber or green-can only be used to make products of the same color. These colored glass pieces have to be separated and recycled separately.
Try: Find information about colored glass at Earth911.com. The site includes facts about the most common glass colors that can be recycled.

Cullet

The process of glass recycling includes the creation of a cullet. A cullet is essentially a large mass of crushed glass that is used to make new glass items. It is created through a heating process that melts the glass and destroys any paper labels.
Try: Go to AZo.com for an explanation of the term cullet and how it is used in glass recycling.

Container Glass

Container is a common term that is used in glass recycling. It is a name that refers to a group of recyclable glass. These types of glass are some of most common glass items that are recycled.
Try: Waste Management has a large amount of information about glass recycling and container glass, specifically.

Lightweighting

In glass recycling, lightweighting is a process that reduces the volume of glass that is needed to make new glass products. Lightweighting not only saves raw materials and natural resources, it also reduces pollution and the amount of energy that is used.
Try: Read John Wiley & Sons' InterScience for facts about lightweighting and how it is used in glass recycling as a cost-effective method for everyone involved.

Glass crusher

A glass crusher is an important machine that is used in the glass recycling process. It is one of the first machines that used glass comes into contact with, and it is essential in making the cullet.
Try: Find the latest information and innovations of the glass crusher machines from American Recycler.

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