The Life & Death of Recycled Glass: Recycled glass containers in the waste stream
Did you know that humans have been using glass vessels for over 4,000 years, going back to the days of ancient Mesopotamia? Quite a fun fact. Here’s another: glass, unlike many other “recyclable” materials, is 100% recyclable without any loss in value or quality. Already less environmentally damaging than plastics, glass can be reused and reshaped over and over without material degradation, making it the more sustainable option for modern-day consumers and producers alike.
If properly recycled, the lifecycle of glass is never ending, existing in a closed loop, no landfill in sight.
Glass packaging is filled with a product and sold via retail to consumers. Retail producers, such as food, beverage, or cannabis suppliers, source their glass packaging, fill, and brand. Consumers (many of whom prefer eco-friendly packaging when possible!) buy and consume the contents of the packaging.
Consumers toss the glass container in curbside waste pick-up or in a drop-off disposal unit. When they’re done with their flower or their yogurt, folks can plop most food/bev glass containers into curbside recycling containers or commercial recycling intake bins. (Some glass, like the kind used for windshields or lightbulbs, should not be tossed into these receptacles. These types are not common for packaging, however.)
Glass waste is separated by type, crushed into cullet and used as a new materials for new glass products. Once the recyclable glass is collected, it will go through a Materials Recovery Facility and sorted several times by color and type before being sold to producers to make new glass containers. One of the major benefits to glass recycling is that, due to its density and weight, glass is easily sortable from other materials in the waste stream.
HOWEVER, here comes the plot twist: only 31.3 percent of glass gets recycled in the United States. That means the dismal reality is that glass can only be the perfect poster child of circular recycling if we want it to.
That’s why Tree Hugger containers uses recycled glass jars: not only to keep recyclable materials out of landfills, but to also join the movement of people transitioning away from unsustainable practices–where things that can be reused or upcycled still end up in the planet’s trash pits.
As a sidebar, however, glass actually takes thousands of years to biodegrade in the environment–around 4,000 precisely. Distinct from other forms of common packaging that take time to break down (looking at you, plastic), the most widely-used types of container glass also don’t leach toxic particles into soil or water. Meaning not only is glass better for the environment when you’re using it, it’s also better for when you’re not.
Whether you’re on the supply side or the consumer side,–choosing containers for your dispensary or picking out the family’s bottles of juice for the week–glass presents an opportunity for consistent reuse. And all of us can help make a shift to a more circular and less wasteful economy of things, no matter how small our decisions may seem. Imagine the possibilities if we as a society got the rate of recycled glass up to 50, 75, or 95 percent? It’s not unheard of. In fact, Europe and the UK see glass recycling rates of 79%. In a world designed for single-use waste streams and absentmindness when it comes to our shared planet, it may sound like the moonshot–or as crazy as the moon landing may have sounded to those Mesopotamian glass vessel makers even. But it’s a task worth undertaking if you ask us.