US residents are doing a better job of recycling all the time, but there are still important challenges to be overcome when it comes to glass. In fact, recyclers are going out of business and many sti…
US residents are doing a better job of recycling all the time, but there are still important challenges to be overcome when it comes to glass. In fact, recyclers are going out of business and many still working are seeing their piles of glass grow out of control. The problem is the slow economy, as recyclers crush glass into a sandy mixture and then sell it to construction companies who use it as building fill serving the same purpose as sand or pea gravel. And the slow construction industry, low cost of sand and scepticism about the crushed glass among construction engineers have all hurt glass recyclers. However, some recycled glass is being melted and used to produce new glass bottles, but this is labour intensive and a bottle loses almost all of its value when it is no longer a finished bottle. Moreover, glass manufacturers can produce new bottles cheaper if they don“t used recycled glass as a raw material. This situation should improve once the economy improves with more building taking place and more buying. At present, however, some recycled glass may still end up at the landfill.