Finding simple solutions to help the environment is a pressing issue in our increasingly busy lives. After balancing our work life with our home and social lives, there’s often little energy to share with other causes we care about, so how do we do our bit for the planet with drained batteries?
Recycling is an effortless way to save the planet – although it has its problems. We all produce waste from the food we eat to the bathroom products we treat ourselves with after a long day. How you decide to dispose of that waste can influence the size of your ecofootprint.
A Circular Future
Glass is infinitely recyclable and is an easy way for you to reduce pollution and preserve our planet. As society moves away from a ‘chuck away’ culture – known as a linear economy – toward one where ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ becomes the norm – known as a circular economy – glass is the perfect material.
Each day we throw away tonnes of rubbish without regard for its destination. Instead of piling up in landfills, popping your glass jars in the recycling bin can ensure it is reused again. Around half of household glass packaging doesn’t get re-melted back to glass and is lost to landfills or incineration.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
When recycled, glass can be melted down to produce various new products, from drinking glasses to fibreglass. Once at the recycling plant, the glass is broken into smaller pieces known as cullet. These pieces are then crushed and sorted where they can be melted and shaped to create new products like glass bottles.
The great thing about glass is that it does not lose its quality no matter how often it is recycled. The same bottles and jars can be recycled multiple times and will still produce new high-quality products. In fact, recovered glass from recycling is the primary material for new glass containers. As much as 70% of recycled glass makes up a typical glass product.
Saving the Climate
Recycling glass helps the climate too. Producing new glass from recycled glass lowers carbon dioxide emissions and overall energy use. It’s estimated that every tonne of glass re-melted saves 246kg of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a television for 1.5 hours.
Reducing Resources
Glass is primarily produced from sand, so recycling glass also decreases our reliance on raw materials. By depositing your used glass at a recycling point or via your household recycling, you can reduce the need for quarrying operations that scar the landscape. After water, sand is the second most traded natural resource in the world. It is becoming scarce in some parts of the world due to high demand for building materials.
Glass is a super material. There are so many ways you can benefit the planet by popping glass in the recycling bin, reusing sauce jars, or purchasing glass that’s lived another life – why not add it to your routine?
Check out our beautiful range of home decor made out of recycled glass.
