Not all places in the United States recycles glass, Las Vegas fortunately is a place that does recycle glass. Certain types of glass products are still not recyclable though. Here is a link that shows what is recyclable and what is not recyclable (What Can I Recycle?). This brings up the question, why is glass such a controversial topic when it comes to recycling?
There are a number of reasons glass is not allowed to be recycled in some areas and just a pain to recycle in the areas it can be recycled.
Here are some of the popular arguments out there against recycling glass:
- It is dangerous for workers to handle, especially when it breaks.
- It is not cost effective and the return on investment, ROI, is not there like it is with other recycled materials.
- Different types of glass are heated at different temperatures so not all glass products can be recycled together.
The pros of recycling glass:
- Helps the environment by reducing CO2 emissions by making more recycled glass that can be reused.
- Conserves the land, by not having to go gather more raw material.
- It won't fill our landfills up.
- It can be recycled over and over again.
In conclusion, we may not be able to recycle every piece of glass we have but recycling bottles and jars definitely helps the environment. Feel good the next time you recycle a bottle and when you have a mirror or set of plates you no longer want or need, find it a new home instead of opting to toss it in the trash.
Las Vegas is filled with glass bottles specially from the strip. bars produce the most glass waste if you think about it. beers and liquor are all severed in glass bottles. so this is useful information
ReplyDeleteHi Tomas. The strip does use up a lot of glass bottles, some of which unfortunately makes it straight into trash cans. The casinos themselves do a lot of recycling though, which is great!
DeleteInteresting. I also did not know that recycling glass is a controversial topic. There used to be a store in the Container Park that repurposed liquor bottles acquired locally into items such as drinking glasses, vases, and jewelry. It was a fun little store.
ReplyDeleteHi Crista. I think the subject about recycling, in general, is a controversial topic. That's awesome that there was a store that repurposed liquor bottles. I've thought about doing that with some hard alcohol bottles, making them into drinking glasses. I never got around to doing it though. I would have liked to have seen what creative things they made there.
Deletevery interesting, liquor and beers severed in glass bottles, good information.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I try to recycle bottles myself. I do various crafting activities on my free time. One of the things I like to work with are bottles. I have collected quite a number of jars. After cleaning them, I like to put some sand or pebbles and put tea candles in it. I decorate the mouth of the jar with raffia string or ribbons. They are perfect for dim lit dinners at home. They are also pretty lights for the patio. I've sold a couple at a garage sale once. There's so many things that can be made from bottles.
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine. That's so cool that you reuse bottles and jars for crafts. We have done similar things in my household as well. With what you do though, you could probably sell some on an Etsy store.
DeleteI don't drink as much beer as I used too, so I don't recycle as much glass. I do like the idea of recycling and repurposing. Growing up as a kid I wanted to be an architect. I find the ideas of green buildings interesting. Recently, I watch a documentary on earth buildings and homesteads. There are a lot of people that use glass bottles to build decorative and purposeful walls.
ReplyDeleteHi Ivan. I think it is great to come up with ideas to reuse materials that can be reused. I have seen similar documentaries and they are fascinating. People have been able to reuse plastic bottles as well and build homes/furniture/etc from them. Check out this link, it's really cool. https://insteading.com/blog/plastic-bottle-homes/
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