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Glass has one of the highest recovery rates of any type of packaging material consumed in Canada. According to the latest figures compiled by Statistics Canada, in 1992, 75% of all container glass was either reused or recycled.
Canada's high glass recovery rate produces measurable savings for the environment by conserving energy, resources, and landfill space. The container glass recycled by Canadians and used in Consumers Glass' furnaces was equivalent to 31% of its domestic production in 1995. Here are some of the benefits of this high recycling rate:
The use of recycled glass reduces the amount of energy required for glassmaking by 7 to 15%. In 1995, the amount of energy saved would have been sufficient to heat 2310 average-sized homes for one year. Energy required to produce and transport raw materials to manufacturing plants is also reduced.
In 1995, recycling of container glass resulted in a savings of approximately 240,000 tonnes of virgin materials: sand, limestone and soda ash.
It also conserved approximately 464,890 cubic metres of valuable landfill space, based on an average of 449 kg of broken glass per cubic metre.
Glass Recycling -- a land full of opportunity
While the characteristics of glass make it an excellent choice for environmental conservation, too much glass is still going to landfills instead of being recycled. The chief reasons are:
lack of glass collection systems and glass processing facilities; distance to markets
varying levels of contribution to recycling programs by householders
In a 1995 study sponsored by Ontario Multi-Material Recycling Inc. (now CSR) and Consumers Glass, it was found that only 52% of available container glass was being collected from households with access to a recycling program. Consumers has identified and has encouraged greater participation in existing recycling programs as the strategy which has the greatest potential to capture more glass.
More container glass collected means greater revenues for recyclers. Consumers Glass is the top-paying purchaser of post-use, post-consumer glass in Canada. If recycled container glass grew at a steady 10% every year to meet the goal of the National Packaging Protocol (NAPP) of 50% less packaging sent to disposal in the year 2000 compared to 1988, Consumers Glass purchases over this period would amount to another 1.5 million tonnes or an additional $100 million in revenues for recyclers and processors.
Demand for Recycled glass outstrips supply
Consumers Glass is not the only organization in need of more recycled glass. In the last few years other markets have developed which use recycled glass, including companies producing fibreglass, reflective beads for road paint; and sandblast, construction and roadbed aggregate. These industries pay less for recycled container glass than Consumers Glass, but provide an alternative for recycling programs in areas where distances to container glass furnaces are prohibitive or when the collection programmes are not able to meet the high standards required for container glass. Consumers fully supports the development of alternative markets for glass, as a means of preventing a valuable resource material from ending up in landfill sites.
As the following chart shows, all markets could have recycled more glass than was recovered in 1995. Of the total amount of container glass in the Canadian marketplace, estimated at 850,000 tonnes annually, slightly less than one-third of this material was collected by recycling programs.
Recycling and deposit systems
Consumers Glass fully supports proven voluntary industry return systems such as that for beer bottles in Canada. It does not support government mandated deposit systems, on the basis that this is not in the best interests of the environment, the consumer or industry.
Studies conducted in Canada have demonstrated that curbside recycling systems which include glass are three to four times more cost-effective than deposit systems.
In Canada, over one hundred domestic packing firms employ glass containers for food and beverage. There are also hundreds of suppliers of imported products in glass. These glass containers likewise come in hundreds of different designs and sizes. It's easy to see that setting up and administering deposit systems for food and beverage containers would be extremely difficult and costly.
The costs of distribution systems for consumer products are ultimately borne by the consumer. Forced deposits add expense and inconvenience, raise the price of foods and beverages in glass, and saddle consumers with another time-consuming chore.
Studies show that people prefer glass. Extensive market research conducted across Canada by Consumers Glass identified the major reasons why people prefer glass for foods and beverages as:
Experiments with extended deposit systems in the U.S. show the inconvenience of deposit returns discourages this preference for glass. One result is that food and beverage producers switch from glass to other, less environmentally friendly container materials that have the advantage of not being subject to deposits.
Copyright ® 1999, Glass Works
