Dumping bottles with their tops still on, bits of broken windows or ceramic items into glass collection bins causes significant losses to the glass recycling sector, Spain“s ANFEVI said on 26 Decembe…
Dumping bottles with their tops still on, bits of broken windows or ceramic items into glass collection bins causes significant losses to the glass recycling sector, Spain“s ANFEVI said on 26 December 2007 as it published a list of guidelines to help consumers. Juan Martn Cano, secretary general of ANFEVI, the association of Spanish container glass manufacturers, said the primary consequence of including non-glass materials was the breakage of containers in the middle of the production process. “If we consider a production line making 20,000 containers per hour and a breakage in just one of those 20,000 containers, the line is down for 20 minutes which means a 33% drop in productivity”, he said. ANFEVI said the incidence of this problem resulted not only in financial loss but also in lower efficiency, greater contamination and poorer quality of the final product. However, the association noted that awareness is growing among Spaniards of the need to recycle in order to protect the environment. ANFEVI aims to improve recycling knowledge through a list of guidelines which explains which items cannot be recycled alongside container glass; some of the banned articles are largely or completely made of glass such as light bulbs, mirrors and opal glass lampshades.