FAQs
Why is glass so hard to recycle?
Glass was discontinued from single stream curbside recycling by most municipalities in Atlanta. When recyclable items are picked up from your home, they are sent to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) where they are sorted into multiple streams (paper, plastic, aluminum, glass etc) and sent to facilities that use them as raw materials. However, glass is extremely hard on MRF equipment, causing increased wear and tear on conveyor belts, screens and other mechanical parts during the sorting process. In addition, glass is heavy and therefore transportation costs are also higher to get it to MRFs and to glass recycling facilities. When we collect your glass, we bypass MRFs and deliver it to glass drop-off centers, from where it is transported to Strategic Materials Inc (SMI), North America’s largest glass recycler.
Why should we recycle glass?
Glass is 100% recyclable. When new glass products are created, recycled glass or "cullet" can be a replacement for up to 95% of the raw materials needed. This dramatically reduces energy consumption and emissions of harmful pollutants that cause smog, acid rain, and contaminate our waterways. Glass is non toxic, and can be recycled infinitely, unlike other materials that degrade quickly, resulting in a lower recycling lifespan. By diverting glass away from landfills, we provide an invaluable service for the environment, the economy, and future generations. It takes more than one million years for glass to decompose and every year more than 8.5 million tons end up in landfills according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Recycling glass has many benefits:
More than a ton of natural resources used as raw materials are saved for every ton of cullet used in making new glass products
Homes with fiberglass insulation made from cullet are more energy efficient due to higher insulating properties
Reduced carbon/greenhouse gas emissions - using 10% cullet in the glassmaking process lowers carbon emissions by approximately 5%
Doesn’t produce byproducts that can contaminate our waterways like other recycling processes
How does glass recycling support Georgia’s economy?
More than 1,200 people in Georgia work in companies producing over $1.1 billion worth of products using recycled glass (source: SERDC.org). Products from brands like Snapple, Anheuser-Busch, and Owens Corning are made with recycled glass right here in Georgia. Nationwide, glass recycling is a $5.5 billion dollar industry tied to 18,000 American jobs. The simple fact is, the more we recycle, the more we grow our economy both locally and across the US. The opposite is true as well and it isn't unreasonable to assume that sending glass to landfills can put Georgians out of work.
In the container glass and fiberglass insulation industries, supply of recycled glass can't keep up with the demand, and it is only getting worse. Currently Georgia's glass manufacturers are forced to import 2,000 tons of recycled glass per month from other states to meet their needs, when they could be sourcing it locally. Using recycled glass vs raw materials saves energy because the furnaces use less fuel and work more efficiently. For every 10% of cullet used, energy use drops by 3% because crushed glass melts at a lower temperature than raw materials, which also increases equipment life.
What happens to glass that is recycled by Strategic Materials Inc (SMI)?
SMI recycles about 10,000 tons of waste glass per month at their Atlanta recycling facility and is desperately looking for more supply. Per its 2022 sustainability report SMI processed 2 million tons of glass last year, saving 2.5 billion individual glass bottles from disposal at a landfill.
SMI processes recycled glass for use in a wide array of products such as containers, fiberglass, highway beads, glass abrasives, paint fillers and specialty glass products such as landscaping rocks, floor tiles, countertops, & aquariums. (source: SMI.com)
One ton of recycled glass saves:
42kWh of electricity
5 gallons of oil
714.3 BTU’s of energy
2 cubic yards of landfill space
7.5 pounds of air pollutants from being released
Manufacturer benefits from recycling glass:
Energy costs drop about 3% for every 10% cullet (recycled glass) used in the manufacturing process.
Cullet requires less energy to melt compared to raw materials which lowers furnace temperatures and extends the lifespan of equipment.
Glass makes better containers because it is non-porous, impermeable and has almost zero rate of chemical interactions.
One metric ton of carbon dioxide is reduced for every six metric tons of recycled container glass used in the manufacturing process.
Reduced water consumption compared to not using recycled glass
Better finished product because using cullet lowers unwanted trapped bubbles and crystals and eliminates the formation of streaks and optical imperfections
What can I do to help?
You can collect your glass and take it to a drop off location or you can let us do it for you. You can rest assured we will make sure it stays out of landfills and is recycled
When you sign up for our monthly package ($14.99/month), we pick up your glass right from your home. We only accept small to medium sized grocery store items such as bottles and jars. We serve Suwanee, Sugar Hill, Buford, Apharetta, Johns Creek, and Cumming and look forward to partnering with you in our mission to eliminate waste glass from reaching landfills!
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