Recycling glass...some things I learned

Like a good Michael Moore movie, let's start with the depressing part and then we can get to the solutions we can use at home.

Just because there is a lot of sand on this planet, does not mean glass will always be plentiful.

• A lot of sand on the Earth is not useful for industrial purposes. 
• A lot of the sand that is useful for industrial purposes comes from river beds and 3rd world countries are destroying their ecosystems to harvest this sand and make stuff for us. 
• And, by the way, some people are being murdered over sand harvesting.

Here are a couple podcasts to listen to that are very informative about sand as a resource.

• Planet Money: Episode 853: Peak Sand
• BBC World Service: The Documentary Podcast: The End of Sand

Glass Solution time!

In my efforts to be a better recycler, I did my diligent Google search and proceeded to find no website in an hour that could give me tips on recycling glass. So I sent an email to my recycle company to ask them what I needed to know.

Their response was shocking!

Them: "I'm sorry, but we do not offer glass recycling in your area."
Me: "What do you mean? It says right on your website that you recycle glass. Here is the link."
Them: "I checked. You are right. We do recycle glass."

I was glad to hear this, because I was starting to mentally prepare myself to run my glass every couple of months to a facility that did. But it was disturbing that such a large waste management company could be so bad at informing customer service reps of policy.

This was just another sign to me of how badly our collective population does not take Reduce, Reuse, Recycle as serious as it should and how much more effective the Save, Simplify, Substitute campaigns were during WWII.

Now the customer service person could help me with being a better recycler.

Be a better recycler

To be a better glass recycler:

• The bottle needs to be clean. 

I know. I know. But that uses water. You would be surprised how much gunk you can get off of the glass container by just filling it to the top with tap water and letting it sit for a day. No need to sit there rinsing and rinsing and wasting and wasting water.

• Everything that isn't a paper label needs to be removed. 

Do not attach the cap back on the jar. And I have read different rules on what to do with that cap, especially when it is metal. The general rule I have read is that large metal caps are fine to be tossed in the recycle bin. Small metal tops like wine bottle tops might be too small and not get properly sorted, so check with your recycle service on what to do with those small metal caps.

And that piece around the neck of the wine bottle or that little tiny aluminum ring around the olive oil that is left after you remove the top...that needs to be removed as well. I now keep pliers and wire cutters in my utensil drawer. And a big +...those little pieces are often made of aluminum and can be put in the recycle bin too!