Glass Works

Winter 1996 | Contents

Glass Markets ..."Steady as she goes"


What better market characteristics could be offered than those described as steady, consistent, with ample room to grow. Recycling operators have every reason to be confident in the glass market as Consumers Glass has the capacity to accept double what the system is providing today. It has already proved that furnaces can easily take over 65% of cullet in the batch. In addition, there are alternate markets that are developing on top of the core market that Consumers Glass provides.

Recyclable materials are commodities and are subject to the peaks and valleys that affect cash flow. However, at the start of Consumers Glass` Product Stewardship Program, recycling operators requested stability over these normal fluctuations. In response, Consumers Glass established the optimum price for container glass and has held the price steady for the last four years.

Granted when prices for other recyclable materials rise, as they did back in the early part of 1995, some requests for more flexible pricing are heard. Now prices for many of the other commodities have fallen. The value of glass supported by Consumers Glass remains steady. This kind of consistency Consumers Glass believes will help develop an improved and sustainable supply.


More glass please!

"X" designates that the processor operates a production facility in the province and purchases recycled glass from the recycling programs operating in that province.

"O" designates that a processor purchases recycled glass from outside that province to where the processor operates a production facility.

  1. "1995 Annualized Capacity in tonnes" represents the estimated total annual capacity of the purchaser to process recycled glass containers to meet the specifications of their respective end-markets.

  2. 1995 Actual Utilization (Cdn Sources Only) represents the estimated amount of recycled glass containers purchased from Canadian recycled programs. (Some processors purchase recycled glass containers from foreign sources. These figures are not reflected in this chart.

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