Glass

Each year we throw away 28 billion glass bottles and jars. Most
glass is made of three basic components: white sand, soda,
and lime. These materials are heated to about 2500°F. Then
the mixture is cooled to 1800°F. The process takes 7600 BTUs
of energy to produce a single island of class.

These startling statistics might surprise you:
• The energy safe from recycling one glass bottle would
like a 100 W bulb for four hours
• All glass bottles and jars can be recycled.
• Glass produced from recycled glass instead of raw
material reduces related air pollution by 20% and water
pollution by 50%.
• It can take 3000 years for a glass container to
decompose.

On the other hand, you'll be happy to know that all the glass
you turn in for recycling actually is recycled. This means using
up fewer natural resources. It also means much less waste -
each ton of glass produced leaves 385 pounds of waste.

Many communities these days supply recycling bins to the
homes. If this is not true of your community, you can easily
recycle glass by keeping a box for it in a convenient place in
your kitchen or on your back porch. It's easy to do and an easy
habit to get into. Don't forget, you can find new ways to use
old glass.