Waste broken glass. Processing of glass and glass products

Every day a person uses glass containers, which must be disposed of after use. This procedure is necessary to protect environment and conservation of natural resources. Storing glass waste is neither safe nor efficient.

What glass can be recycled?

Main types of recycled glass waste:

• glass containers - bottles and jars - they are handed over to special collection points, after which the containers are washed, treated with disinfectants and used again for their intended purpose;
• broken glass – broken container.

Broken glass is classified by color: green (GS), colorless (BS), brown (KS), etc.

Why should you recycle glass?

Disposal of broken glass is necessary for a number of important reasons:

• the material does not decompose at the biological level - an ordinary glass bottle decomposes over a period of more than 1000 years, and if they are not recycled, our planet will be littered with glass waste in a short period of time;
• fragile times broken glass poses a danger to people and animals;
• by reusing glass containers, exhaustible and non-renewable resources can be saved;
• preserving areas of land that could become waste glass dumps;
• recycling glass products is a waste-free production, so nature will not suffer from negative impact industrial enterprises;
• By handing over glass containers to collection points, you will receive money for it.

Recycling window glass, bottles, jars and other glass products saves money Natural resources, protect the environment and reduce the cost of manufacturing new glass products.

Collection, removal and disposal of glass waste in Moscow

Our diversified company provides services such as glass recycling and recycling of cullet in Moscow and the Moscow region.

The procedure goes as follows:

1. Collection of glass waste from the population, organizations and enterprises.
2. Carrying out primary washing of glass waste and sorting into classes.
3. Crushing waste glass on automatic hammer crushers.
4. Washing glass material and drying it.
5. Melting of raw materials in melting furnaces.

The cost of removing flat glass for recycling is relatively low. You can find out the cost of ordering recycling of cullet from the company manager.

The range of services provided includes the disposal of broken windshields.

Still have questions? We will be happy to answer them

Pages: 123Next »

There are quite a few half-liter glass jars accumulated at home. Firstly, it’s a shame to throw them away, and secondly, it’s dangerous and harmful to the environment. Therefore, an interesting idea came to my mind - to try to somehow melt glass and play with glassblowing. As I understand it, the glass in jars is SiO2, which needs a non-acidic temperature to melt. But at home it is unlikely that you will be able to heat anything by more than 300 - 400.
In general, I think in this direction and am ready to hear your thoughts.

I once played at the dacha, temperatures needed to reach 1000 and above.
In addition, glass is amorphous, it will not become liquid :) (at the temperatures and additives available to you, certainly). It smoothly softens and becomes like thick resin/gummy - viscous, sticky, and terribly out of control :)
It was funny to wet a stick and pull a long 2-meter “snot”, which quickly cooled, cracked and crumbled from internal stress.

In general, it’s fun to play around, but you won’t get anything useful.

Find where these banks are accepted and return them, receiving 3 kopecks and a feeling of moral satisfaction for your contribution to the preservation of nature.

Sergio
> and secondly, it is dangerous and harmful to the environment.
what?

bseg
10,000 years, but no one will be circumcised by it! And a seagull will build a nest in it!

Al
> Well, like a plastic “eco-friendly” cup will sit without decomposing,
> 10,000 years
Exactly? Who checked?

Al
> Well, like a plastic “eco-friendly” cup will sit without decomposing,
> 10,000 years, but no one will be circumcised by it! And a seagull will build a nest in it!
Well, I've been trying to use polyethylene and plastic as materials for external coatings in contact with the environment. after 5 years there is nothing left of them, they crumble into dust.

Organization of a mini-factory for glass processing

where they got the numbers of 200 years and more is a big mystery to me. And glass is generally mega-ecological. Fused sand. Glass naturally turns into sand and turns from temperature changes after 10 years.

0iStalker
> So as not to preserve cucumbers in them? Give it away somehow
> summer residents/gardeners.
+1

Pages: 123Next »

/ Forum/ Flame / General

Archived topic.

Sergio
> quite a few half-liter glass jars.

So as not to preserve cucumbers in them? Give it away for free to some summer residents/gardeners.

Sergio
> Recycling or recycling glass at home.
>
Landfills recycle glass.
Transparent, green, red. — the battle is sorted.
Factories accept everything.
You can donate not by variety, but by bunch, but it will be cheaper.

There is a topic here somewhere about landfills.
I wrote there that it was being recycled.
Glass, iron, plastic, paper, wood.
Little remains in landfills.

This is big business!
They give you goodies at the landfill for purchases.
Your slaves sort for pennies and jail.
The factories themselves export everything and pay offshore to your personal account.
There are a lot of such trashy Oligarchs.

If you install a sorting and processing plant, it will not be profitable.
You have to pay taxes, maintain staff, and repair equipment.

And slaves in a landfill are freebies for the owner of the landfill.

Sergio
> try to somehow melt the glass and play around with glassblowing.
Sign up for a glassblowing course.
read the tolmuts on this matter.
Very interesting however!

Get a job at a glass factory.
Complete this path in 2-3 years.
It's useful and educational.

The Christmas tree decorations factory has decent wages.
And an advanced glassblower gets more than a coder.
This is a real skill from past centuries of humanity.

Ren
> Dig a deep hole in the yard and throw cans there. Place a note in each one.
> Projectile to the future. In 3 thousand years, your notes will be used to judge the present
> history, so be impartial.
Smart. You can use printouts of Morphia's posts and selected topics from the "Science" section as notes. Sergio
> glass half-liter jars. Firstly, it would be a shame to throw them away, and secondly,
> dangerous and harmful to the environment.

It is harmful to the environment to shit in space past Mother Planet. Not good.
But throwing silicon out of nature into nature is complete nonsense.

Sergio
> which requires a non-acidic temperature in order for it to melt.
I melted in a stove, but in this stove I melted zinc, aluminum, and burned copper. but it was impossible to pour out anything (except for zinc, it is relatively fusible) it is very difficult to make a crucible that will withstand this, and when the aluminum was taken out of the furnace it began to boil strangely, it probably burned in the air, it was not poured into the mold but it made drops.
I melted a brown glass vitamin jar, it stretched into snot and then fell into the oven. I couldn’t get it back, I think it’s not realistic to pour it into a mold, it needs to be more liquid, unless pressed. I haven’t tried to blow, I have nothing.
I think the melting point (although it’s more likely not melting but softening) is somewhere around 500-600 degrees

bseg
> Glass naturally turns into sand and turns from temperature changes,
> in 10 years.
I think many times more. We once had a warehouse of bottles on the street, it lay there for 10 years in the rain and snow, I don’t remember the sand there, but some were broken.

Business ideas -> Other ideas

How to make money from broken glass

Today, not many people know that the old glass container collection points brought considerable income to their owners. But new times dictate new conditions for doing business. Today, each manufacturer's glass containers are original, and therefore there is no point in collecting whole bottles, but broken ones are available. The thing is that the technology for producing glass for bottles does not change and remains quite expensive. But if you melt ready-made glass (shards of broken glassware), you can significantly reduce the cost of producing the final product at glass factories. So how? make money from broken glass individual entrepreneurs?

The fact that you can make good money in the niche of broken glass was proven by Nizhny Novgorod resident Andrey Shamaev. He took out a loan and purchased the necessary equipment - several machines for removing broken glass and equipment for processing and cleaning such waste. Two hundred thousand dollars borrowed from Sberbank was enough for storage space and recycling of cullet. A few years later, the profit of the company organized by the young entrepreneur.

The entire glass recycling process: recycling as a way to preserve nature and earn money

covered the invested amount seven times. Which, however, is not surprising - after all, money is literally lying under your feet.

So, how can you make money from cullet (broken glass)

First of all, it is necessary to find a suitable area for a warehouse, where not only the storage of collected cullet will be carried out, but also the preliminary sorting and processing of broken glassware. If you can find such a warehouse close to transport routes, then you can also locate it here. cullet collection point.

Where can I get broken glass and who can act as distributors or suppliers of this recyclable material? In addition to the completely predictable contingent such as homeless people and other socially disadvantaged groups, there is another group of collectors - janitors, who can also collect broken glass well. As the glass accumulates, they will inform you and you will only have to load and remove the broken glass.

In addition, you should definitely negotiate with window installation companies. For a small fee, they will give you glass from dismantled old frames. Not everyone keeps them; in most cases, old window frames have only one way - to the trash heap.

Another promising way is to try to negotiate with the authorities of your city to install additional special containers intended for glass only. Everyone is talking about separate waste collection now, but, unfortunately, few people are doing anything about it. Even Andrei Shamaev failed to come to an agreement with the authorities of his city. But trying is not torture.

There are also restaurants and other catering establishments. In addition, you can go to different parts of the city once a week and collect broken glass. The main thing is to advertise. Soon you will be collecting fragments and waiting for you to pick them up.

In general, collecting broken glass is not a problem. In this business, the most important thing is to find sales for recyclable materials. The situation here is also quite good. Almost all factories that work with glass will be willing to take it from you. True, they accept such raw materials in opened and pure form, therefore, after receiving cullet, you need to wash and sort the broken glass. There is specialized equipment for this.

Summing up, I would like to say that this is a really good, promising business. Factories that produce glass containers will be happy to accept your broken glass. This niche is not even half filled.

Based on materials from rabotaj-sam
10/2011

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Recycling or recycling glass at home.

Recently, food manufacturers have been striving to make packaging design more vibrant and attractive, the same applies to glass containers. Naturally, unusual and bizarre shapes of glass bottles are not in demand at glass collection points. Therefore, more than 90% of glass bottles end up in landfills.

Main stages of organizing glass processing

First, used glass containers are collected from landfills or collection points for any glass are set up. Also, special bins for glass containers are often organized. After collecting used glass, it is cleared of labels. The last step in this process is to crush the glass using crushing equipment.

Products made from recycled glass can be reused and are in no way inferior to traditional glass, as recycling does not change the structural properties.

Benefits of glass recycling

Another advantage of glass recycling is waste-free production. Nowadays, a modern promising entrepreneur strives for environmentally friendly production and cost savings. Therefore, glass recycling can be a good idea for business development. In Russia, this niche of entrepreneurship is still practically unoccupied, but in Europe there is already high competition between firms, and they, in turn, bring high incomes to their owners.

Applications of recycled glass

Recycled glass has a fairly large market. The following companies are usually interested in it:

• manufacturers of building materials, namely glass structures;
• manufacturers of ceramic sanitary ware, water filters, insulating and abrasive materials;
• brick manufacturers.

Today there is a large number of modern and powerful crushing equipment for glass processing. They differ in power, performance and other technical parameters. Depending on the volume of production, you can complete the glass processing line yourself.

LLC Tula Machines for glass grinding with simultaneous drying with hot gases offers airborne mills.

The first products from this material began to be made in Egypt 5 thousand years ago - we are talking about the most ancient faience jewelry and figurines. The Berlin Museum still houses a green glass bead, the diameter of which is about 9 millimeters - this is one of the most ancient monuments of glassmaking. Scientists suggest that its age is more than five and a half thousand years.

Glass is one of the most ancient and universal materials, without which it is difficult to imagine modern life person.

Contents of the article
Properties and composition of glass
The dangers of glass waste
Main types of waste
Glass collection
How much can you earn?
Processing technology
Video

Mikhail Lomonosov began a scientific approach to the study of glass: the scientist actively experimented with glass melting technology. It is important to note that the methods used by Lomonosov are not much different from modern classical approaches to the study of this material.

Properties and chemical composition of glass

The chemical resistance of a material depends on its composition: glass containing a small amount of alkali oxides exhibits greater resistance.

Basic physical properties glass:

• strength - compressive strength is 500-2000 MPa;
• fragility - refers to ideally fragile materials;
• Density varies and depends on the composition of the material.

  Recycling glass bottles and jars into new ones

  The density of quartz glass is 2200 kg/m3;

• hardness - depends on the amount of impurities. The hardest is quartz glass, the least hard is lead glass;
• melting temperature - for silicate glass it is approximately 425-600°C. With more high temperature glass turns into liquid.

Today, glass is the best packaging material not only for food, but also for medicines, reagents, various drinks, sauces, etc. However, the negative side of this material is that it takes a very long time to decompose.

What is the danger of glass for the environment if it is simply thrown into a landfill?

1. The decay period of an ordinary glass bottle is 1,000,000 years. Just imagine: our descendants will be able to find an entire bottle of lemonade preserved over such a long period of time.
2. One of the characteristics of this material is fragility - this makes glass dangerous for both animals and humans - everyone knows how dangerous broken glass scattered in the coastal zone or in water bodies can be.
3. Glass located in the soil layer or on the surface is an obstacle to the growth of plants, as well as for small animals.
4. Every 10% of cullet reduces gas consumption by 3%. That is, if a glazier uses only broken glass to produce his products, then the gas consumption for the manufacture of products will decrease by 30%.
5. In our country, glass recycling annually saves more than 10,000 hectares of land that could otherwise become landfills.

That is why the problem of large-scale and timely processing of this material does not lose its relevance to this day.

Let's talk about the benefits of glass recycling

• glass is a 100% recyclable material - thus, after its processing there are no by-products left that negatively affect the environment;
• Every 1000 kg of recycled waste saves more than 1000 kg natural materials, including 200 kg of limestone, about 180 kg of soda and more than 600 kg of sand;
• You can earn additional money by delivering material to glass container collection points.

Main types of waste

1. Glass containers: glass bottles and jars. Many people, wanting to recycle glass, collect it and take it to collection points, for which they receive small money. Next, the glass containers are thoroughly washed and disinfected, and they can again be used for food packaging.

2. Glass breaker - as the name implies, we are talking about broken glass. There is hardly a person who has never broken a glass product. However, cullet, just like glass containers, can and even should be recycled.

Cullet is usually classified by color:

• PST - semi-white container glass;
• ZS - green;
• BS - colorless;
• PSL - semi-white sheet;
• KS - brown;
• SS - mixed.

In our country, separate waste collection is almost never practiced; no more than 35-40% of cullet is recycled. Enterprises specializing in its production need recycled glass. Today, there are more than 120 manufacturers of products made from this material in our country.

One of the main areas in which cullet is used is the production of containers (bottles and cans). In this case, minimally stringent requirements are put forward for the composition of the glass melt, which allows the use of materials of different composition and color. Also, cullet is often used for the production of various foam materials, for example, foam glass, which is an indispensable material in modern construction.

Products made from glass are powerful heat insulators, so they are often used for insulating pipelines, producing modern sandwich panels, as well as for insulating roofs, external walls, ceilings, etc.

Due to their performance properties, glass-crystalline materials are in great demand in the construction industry. During their production, cullet and glass waste are often used. Unlike other materials, which are also used in the finishing of buildings, glass-crystalline materials are characterized by durability, almost zero water absorption, high strength and abrasion resistance.

How is cullet collected?

Recently, glass packaging for various drinks has become increasingly popular; the amount of cullet in Russia has increased significantly. Domestic ecologists cite the following facts:

• Every year about 150,000 tons of glass waste are generated in our country;
• The volume of glass waste collection is about 57,000 tons per year (38% of the total waste volume).

Foreign countries have accumulated extensive experience in collecting cullet, which Russian specialists are gradually adopting. In the West, specialized enterprises collect glass waste. In America, glass companies set up special collection points where people bring broken glass and glass containers and where primary waste processing takes place.

In our country, special containers are installed on the streets to collect cullet, into which people throw waste. Also, along with stationary collection of glass waste, mobile collection is also used - it includes regular visits to houses, private and public enterprises.

In Europe, one of the most popular and budget ways is to organize mobile units reception, where glass waste is collected, sorted and subsequently crushed.

How much can you earn from recycling?

Today in Russia there is an opportunity to make good money by disposing of glass waste. On average, the cost of a ton of cullet is approximately 40-45 US dollars at the current exchange rate, about 2500-3000 rubles.

Unlike cullet, which can only be sold in large quantities, glass containers can be returned even in the amount of one bottle at any collection point. For a glass bottle you will receive from 50 kopecks to several rubles - depending on its volume, neck and color of the glass.

How is cullet processed?

The glass processing technology is carried out as follows: first, the glass cullet is sorted by color, garbage and various mechanical impurities are removed, the waste is thoroughly washed and crushed.

Most often, sorting is done manually, but sometimes special equipment is used. The MikroSort installation, manufactured by the German company Mogensen GmbH, is popular.

Mechanical impurities are removed in the following way:

• a magnetic separator is used to extract metal inclusions;
• ceramics, various metals, etc. are separated from the total mass using screening installations.

Metal and color separators are also used - they separate impurities containing certain metals, as well as inclusions of a certain color. An example of such an installation is S+S Separation and Sorting Technology GMBH (German production).

The use of glass recycling equipment depends on what is needed after the job is completed. To produce recyclable materials, there is no need to use crushing plants, and specialists carry out the destruction of glass waste manually. In order to crush cullet into fractions of the required size, it is necessary to use special crushing equipment - on the modern market you can choose from a variety of both foreign installations and Russian-made equipment.

The service life of the equipment used for processing waste glass depends on the size of the debris supplied to the input, as well as on the size that should be obtained at the output. If a fraction of about 300 millimeters in size is supplied to the input, and the result should be a piece of 50 millimeters, then the crushing process consists of several steps. Experts say that 7-8-fold crushing is optimal.

When recycling glass waste, it is preferable to use those technologies that do not negatively affect the state of our nature and also do not require large energy costs. This is why modern processing systems based on filtration and subsequent melting of glass using innovative “gas” technology have gained popularity.

The resulting glass mass is used to produce materials used in construction, double-glazed windows, glass for windows, glass blocks, insulating materials and other types of products.

Proper disposal of glass waste helps keep our planet clean, and reusing glass containers is the most optimal way of recycling. Unlike plastic containers, glass packaging can be washed, thoroughly disinfected and reused. However, due to the fact that one of the properties of glass is fragility, it is the cullet that turns into waste, which requires not only timely, but also competent disposal.

Our history is moving in a spiral: if a few decades ago people were forced to fashion everything disposable, now this approach has proven its failure. Now we understand that in order to save our planet, we need to reuse household items.

Let's save nature together! Take glass containers to a collection point and help improve the environmental situation on Earth!

Entrepreneurs who are looking for a profitable niche in business should pay attention to underdeveloped sector economic activity – recycling of industrial and household waste.

This type of activity involves the collection and processing of a variety of garbage, production waste and used packaging into new products.

Among all types of recyclable materials, used glass containers occupy not last place in terms of the volume of waste that can be reused and make good money from it, since competition in this sector of the Russian economy is minimal.

Recycling glass waste as a business, subject to a competent approach to the entire technological cycle, from the collection of raw materials to the production and sale of finished products, will bring good profits.

The main thing in this matter is a properly developed and implemented business project, which allows you to plan activities and optimize costs and income.

In addition, any enterprise engaged in waste recycling can count on government support and subsidies, since this type of activity improves the ecology of the environment and conserve non-renewable natural resources.

In most regions Russian Federation There are targeted programs to support entrepreneurs involved in waste recycling.

They consist of issuing grants and subsidies to repay part of the interest on loan rates and reduce the tax burden.

Unlike previous years, reuse suitable glass containers has practically disappeared. Most enterprises in Russia package their products in new bottles, cans and other containers.

Therefore, there are no problems with the raw materials. In addition, industry and the construction industry produces large volumes of glass waste that can be recycled.

In such conditions, it would be a sin not to take advantage of the situation and open a profitable business for the production of products from broken glass or simply for subsequent resale.

We will consider the prospects for such a business and the types of products that can be produced from glass waste.

Glass waste is a practically non-degradable material. It takes nature hundreds of years to turn this waste into environmentally friendly silica dust.

Let's consider positive sides processing of glass recyclables into new products.

1. Recycling broken glass is very useful technological process from the point of view of environmental safety. In addition, a reduction in the area occupied by landfills and landfills where glass waste is disposed leads to an increase in the area for the placement of necessary infrastructure facilities.
2. Inorganic mineral glass is made from a mixture of quartz sand (silica), soda (sodium oxide), lime (calcium oxide) and other necessary impurities. Recycling glass waste can dramatically reduce the use of these non-renewable natural resources.
3. Production of finished products from glass fight requires less energy resources and initial mineral raw materials, which leads to savings natural gas and electricity, and consequently, to reduce production costs. This increases the competitiveness of finished products.

All these advantages of glass waste recycling allow us to confidently say that this type of activity not only brings good income, but also is a socially useful matter, preserving the environment.

Below we will look at the types of products that can be obtained by processing broken glass.

List of products made from recycled glass

From glass waste you can obtain a huge number of different materials and products that are in demand in the world. modern stage development of industry, construction and other areas of human economic activity.

Below we will briefly look at some types of these products, the production of which can be used to build your own highly profitable business.

1. . This type of heat insulator, produced in blocks and sheets, is in high demand among consumers. The production technology of this material is quite simple and relatively inexpensive. It is based on foaming molten glass followed by cooling in special molds. Initial investments in the production of foam glass from cullet with mineral additives start at 3 million rubles.
2. . The most popular thermal insulation material in the modern building products market. In its production, up to 80% of cullet can be used. The glass wool production technology is based on spraying molten glass in a centrifuge with a jet of steam. A carpet is formed from glass fibers, which is cut into mats, sheets or rolled into rolls. Start-up investments in glass wool production range from 4 million rubles.
3. . The material is intended for waterproofing various construction projects, sealing joints, improving the quality of concrete and other technological operations. In everyday life it is known as silicate glue. The process of producing liquid glass from cullet is based on grinding the waste with alkali metal hydroxide in an autoclave. Read here about the production and applications of this material. The initial investment in organizing a small production will be at least 2 million rubles.
4. Glass container. The secondary production of glass containers from broken glass is a complex technological process. In addition to smelting furnaces and various equipment To prepare the charge, you need to purchase an automatic molding line with equipment. The amount of broken glass in the feedstock can reach 100%. Read about making glass containers from recycled materials in this article. To implement the project for the production of glass containers from waste, it is necessary to spend at least 100 million rubles.
5. . High-quality and beautiful finishing material. Glass tiles are made from a mixture of finely crushed broken glass, dyes and special polyester resins, which is poured into molds to harden. The maximum amount required to open a small artisanal workshop for the production of tiles from broken glass is unlikely to exceed 500 thousand rubles. Investments in such a business are minimal, and you can get good profits. Here you will find more information about making glass tiles.
6. . Used in the production of fiberglass and other popular materials. fiberglass is based on pressing molten glass through special platinum dies, followed by cooling and winding an endless thread onto receiving drums. Up to 45% broken glass can be used in the production of the product. A small fiberglass production enterprise will cost at least 6 million rubles.

Production of all of the above products from glass waste requires a large initial investment for the purchase of equipment, rental of premises, organization of the purchase of recyclable materials and other technological needs.

But there is also a simpler type of glass business - this is the opening of a collection point for glass containers and broken glass from the population and organizations.

Below we will look at the stages of creating such an enterprise and its profitability.

How to open a glass collection point?

Opening a collection point for glass containers and broken glass is the first step in mastering the glass waste recycling business, of course, if you intend to develop your activity to deep recycling of this recyclable material to obtain final marketable products.

Otherwise, you can stop at the first stage - collection and primary sorting of waste and make a good profit from the sale of bottles, cans and waste.

But for this it is necessary to open a collection point for glass recyclables and containers.

The procedure for opening such a business is quite simple and it is performed according to the following scheme:

• Initially, a business plan for opening a collection point is worked out in detail, determining the optimal location, possibilities for selling glass containers and broken glass, as well as the approximate profitability of the enterprise;
• at the next stage, it is necessary to open an individual entrepreneur or LLC for this type of activity with the preparation of all the necessary documentation and registration with the territorial tax authorities;
• subsequently rented and repaired in accordance with general requirements premises for a collection point, the necessary equipment is purchased (boxes, containers, etc.) and you can start working.

Economic activities for the reception of glass containers and broken glass not subject to licensing. It is only necessary to obtain permission to use the rented premises for this type of business from the SES and the fire inspectorate.

As mentioned above, currently only a small amount of bottles are reused.

Basically, all accepted glass containers are sold to large wholesalers at the price of broken glass, with the exception of jars that are purchased for subsequent recycling.

But even with such seeming business failure you can get a good profit of 30%, because bottles are purchased at prices ranging from 50 k. to 1 r. per piece, and broken glass is sold at a price of up to 2.5 thousand rubles per ton!

Video on the topic

This video explains why glass recycling is necessary and how it is done.

Conclusion

For the Russian Federation, the level of competition in the business of collecting and processing waste glass is extremely low, so if you open an enterprise only for receiving, crushing, sorting and selling raw materials to interested manufacturers, You can achieve profitability of up to 80%.

Recycled glass can be purchased through a network of collection points, stored at landfills and landfills, and also purchased from glass factories for manufacturing defects at an affordable price.

Increase profitability own business processing of scrap glass is possible by expanding production to deep processing of glass into finished products. We have given a list of such products, the most promising in terms of demand and price, above.

Of course, complete recycling of broken glass into building materials and other products will require a large initial investment, but this approach to developing your own business will provide you with a constant and high income for a long time.

Glass is one of the few materials that can be recycled endlessly without loss of quality. In Russia, the glass bottle collection system works to one degree or another in most fairly large populated areas, since it is beneficial for the people handing over glass containers and the manufacturers using them.

The collected containers can be used in two ways: broken and then recycled or washed, disinfected and reused. Reuse requires less energy, so it is more environmentally friendly and often more economically feasible.

In 2010, according to estimates by the research company Abercade in Russia, unbroken containers accounted for 97% of all glass collected, and 3% was cullet. On July 1, 2012, new technical regulations “On Packaging Safety” came into force, and all glass containers that come into contact with baby food were defined as cullet, so the amount of cullet became slightly larger.

What are the benefits of recycling for the environment?

Although reuse preferable to recycling, glass recycling is also beneficial because it reduces energy consumption, saves landfill space, and conserves natural resources.

New glass is made from four main components: sand, soda ash, limestone and other components added to obtain the desired color or special properties. Although, in fact, there is no shortage of these types of raw materials, all of them must first be extracted, and this is associated with energy costs, changes in the landscape and additional environmental pollution.

Previously, there was virtually no technology to recycle glass bottles into new ones, and recycled glass was often only used to create building materials such as foam glass. Now there is such an opportunity, but in Russia this technology is not very popular. Of the large manufacturers, it is used by Baltika, which takes a more responsible approach to environmental issues.

Technology for recycling glass containers after they have been collected:

1. Bottle sorting.
2. Shredding bottles.
3. Removing contaminants. A magnet can also be used to remove metal caps or other metal contaminants.
4. If sorting was not carried out at an earlier stage, then it is carried out at this stage using automated system optical sorting. Manual glass sorting at this stage is very difficult and dangerous. Sorting system using optical sensors determines the color of the glass, and then blows it off with an air stream onto a conveyor that matches the color. Easiest to recycle clear glass, therefore it is the most valuable.
5. If necessary, glass is mixed with raw materials to improve color and/or properties. Crushed glass is mixed with soda ash, sand and limestone.
6. The resulting composition is cooked in an oven heated to 1200 - 1550°C. Recycled glass melts at a lower temperature than the raw materials used to make glass from scratch. That's why large quantity recycled glass provides great energy savings.
7. Forming new bottles or cans. The bright orange molten glass melt is cut into pieces (or blobs) from which automatic molding machines create the finished bottles.
8. Afterwards, the products are heat treated in annealing furnaces to relieve internal stresses in the glass.
9. Next, visual and technical quality control of products is carried out.

Various types of glass

There are many types of glass, but in everyday life, for jars and bottles, soda-lime-silicate glass is mainly used. It is important not to mix different types of glass as they are processed differently.

Other types of glass used in everyday life (these types of glass are recycled much less frequently):

• borosilicate glass - used for heat-resistant cookware for open fires and for teapots.
• Lead glass (or "crystal") - used for decorative glassware.
• Fiberglass - for insulation and in fiber optic cables.

Problems with glass bottle recycling

The main problem when recycling glass bottles is contamination of the collected glass. Not everyone wants to deal with cleaning containers and sorting. Due to this and the relatively low cost of raw materials for glass production, recycling bottles into new bottles is not very popular.

Bottle recycling is a fairly simple process, but it is difficult to organize, especially in Russia, because we are little accustomed to separate collection garbage. People often think that it makes no sense to hand over bottles for pennies, and some even think that this is shameful - bottles are usually collected and handed over by tramps and the poor. Therefore, bottles are simply thrown away with the rest of the garbage, with little regard for the state of landfills and the environment. Let's try to prolong life glass bottles and banks, because it’s so simple. Let's collect and recycle waste separately, this will save resources and save the environment.

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