Recycling is great when it works. To make it work, recyclable glass has to be separated from all the other material that ends up in recycling bins.
In the UK, glass manufacturer, Ardagh, has just signed a fifteen year agreement with recycler, ReUse, to increase glass recycling. The partnership includes a £5m investment in new technology.
The new sorting and separation technology is built into a four-stage process:
the removal of medium-sized organic and loose ferrous metals drying to remove dust and smaller materials the removal of residual metallic, leaded glass and materials that burn at much higher temperatures than container glass such as pyrex. the remaining material is put through a thorough cleaning before it is separated by colour using a range of advanced cleaning, purification and optical sorting techniques.
This new technology enables far greater material recovery of glass by colour from the waste stream. Glass particles as small as 4mm can now be successfully separated by colour. 10mm was the smallest size that could be separated previously.
The purer recycled glass material may be used by Ardagh in its furnaces to make new bottles and jars. This has already helped Ardagh to increase the recycled content of the glass bottles and jars that it produces by 12%.
Sharon Crayton, head of marketing at Ardagh Glass Europe, described the improved results, “This new technology has put us at the forefront of UK recycling, helping us to significantly increase the recycled content for clear (flint) bottles and jars. For example, our Doncaster plant which is focused solely on the production of clear (flint) glass, achieved an average recycled content level of over 50% in the first quarter of 2014 against an average recycling rate of 32% in the same quarter of 2013.”
The new ReUse glass sorting and separation facilities have a total capacity for up to 250,000 tonnes of waste glass, which is approximately 13% of the UK’s waste glass total.
As is the case in Australia, waste glass collection in the UK now relies heavily on kerbside collections. With less material coming from bottle banks, recycling firms have found it challenging to separate the glass from other recyclables, and then re-process it into quality colour separated cullet.
Mark Wilson, chief executive of ReUse, stated, “This latest investment, the first in an ongoing programme, gives us the technology to produce more finished cullet of the highest standard to meet the growing requirements of Ardagh. However, it remains easier and more effective to recycle glass back into glass bottles and jars when glass is collected separately from other packaging materials. We therefore urge councils to consider this when renewing their waste management contracts.”
At home, O-I Australia has invited glass recyclers in Queensland and Northern New South Wales to supply a new state-of-the-art glass cullet optical sorting plant in South East Queensland.
The high capacity cullet optical sorting plant will open in early 2015 and will recover large volumes of recycled glass for use at O-I’s glass container manufacturing plant in Brisbane.
The new facility will be capable of processing a much more significant volume of furnace ready cullet than Queensland is able to produce now.
“We believe this new optical sorting plant is the missing link in Queensland’s cullet processing infrastructure. The new plant will ensure all glass has an opportunity to be recovered through a closed-loop process and recycled into new glass containers – not down-cycled or sent to landfill,” stated O-I Australia director of procurement, Gary Combes.
To maximise its potential, O-I is asking recyclers large and small to become involved. Large material recovery facilities are being invited to make supply arrangements with O-I Australia directly to take in-feed glass. Smaller recyclers and regional centres are being asked for their interest in an economically viable option to recycle glass into a high-value use.
In its pitch, O-I is emphasising the characteristics of glass that give it a sustainability edge:
1. Glass is 100% infinitely recyclable.
2. Maximising the amount of recycled content in the glass making process creates a number environmental benefits:
• It reduces the amount of raw materials that must be extracted, transported and used in production;
• It reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill; and
• Due to a lower melting point, every 10 per cent of recycled glass used in production reduces carbon emissions by about five per cent and energy use in the process by around three per cent.
In the last annual reporting period post-consumer cullet accounted for 37% of the total glass tonnes O-I packed.
