Plenty Magazine: Recycling and Reusing Glass: It’s a Picnic
Filed under: Earth 911 - August 12, 2008
Recycling glass containers is clearly a good deal for the environment: 90 percent of recycled glass goes into new glass containers, while using 40 percent less energy than making new glass from scratch. Reusing glass this way also reduces air pollution by 20 percent, and water pollution by 50 percent. Plus, it’s a growing trend: Only 750,000 tons of glass were recovered in 1980, compared with 2.9 million tons in 2006. That’s 22 percent recycled out of 13.2 million tons that ended up in municipal solid waste. Okay, so we’ve still got a ways to go.
Not sure if glass is recycled curbside in your area, or whether you have to take it to a recycling center, or whatever? Type in “glass” and your zipcode in the search tool at Earth911. Save yourself the effort, though, with regard to lightbulbs, windowpanes or glass cookware; these contain ceramics and cannot be recycled. On the other hand, defunct energy-saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs), which use 80 percent less energy and last 10 times as long as conventional bulbs, but contain small amounts of toxic mercury, can now be dropped off in recycling bins at Home Depot and IKEA stores. All the more reason to buy them instead of incandescents.
If you’re a hoarder, like us, you probably can’t bear to part with the lovely embossed rubber-lidded jars. So take them on a picnic. Jars are great for carrying salad dressing or grated cheese, and for packing individual servings of beans and rice, pasta, pudding. No need for plates, just chopsticks or forks. Dig in!