Glass Recycling Education and Training

Options for business learning about recycling glass
By J. Stoltzfus, writer/programmer, LOCAL CITIZEN In the grand scheme of recycling and source reduction for consumer and business materials, glass recycling has its own niche. Those who analyze the process debate how or whether to recycle glass, but businesses have a significantly different view than the average consumer. A business will decide whether to recycle any waste glass from its processes, as well as how to cut down on glass use or modify manufacturing processes.
 

When a business needs training and education on aspects of recycling glass, the web can provide various resources. Government, business and independent groups have put out a lot of public glass recycling resources online, including:

1. Government guides to glass recycling for businesses and consumers.

2. Public glass recycling sites offering links to glass buyers, recycling agencies and other groups as well as statistics, categories and more.

3. Public web forums where posters discuss aspects of business and residential glass recycling.

Get glass recycling info from government sources

The federal U.S. EPA has stepped up to the plate to offer glass recycling resources for businesses and consumers. State and local agencies have also promoted glass recycling through a lot of useful online pages.
Try: Get "Just the Facts" about glass recycling at the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection website. Learn more about glass recycling companies, common methodologies and glass recycling buyers at state or local sites like the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

Locate other glass recycling resources from public interest sites

Other groups also list a lot of important info about glass recycling for training businesses and other kinds of readers in how to deal with the issue of maximizing the value of silica materials.
Try: Get recycling training and other resources at the Glass Packaging Institute. Look for lists of glass recycling company types and categories and more at Recycler's World. Check out the Kentucky Division of Waste Management, which has a program on glass recycling. For a general recycling course, including glass, look at the Whitlock Training Group at Earth911.

Look for tips and info on glass recycling from public web forums

Another resource for glass recycling information and tips is the public sites where involved parties post in open forums about what kind of glass recycling, if any, is best for the earth and the human community.
Try: Learn about recycling glass in various colors at the forums at DoItYourself, where posters discuss attributes of the process for glass recyclers and some factors in how the glass recycling business works. Find more posts on glass recycling at City-Data forums.

• When looking for glass recycling education and training, keep each of the 3Rs in mind: reduce, re-use and recycle. All three of these help businesses toward an overall path of limiting glass source reduction and getting efficient about helping to curb landfill waste.