Glass Bottles Continue To Have a Place In Our Modern World

A renewed focus on sustainability and green efforts have led many people to assess alternatives to many harmful products that damage the environment. One of the biggest targets is plastic products, which take hundreds of years to break down and have long-term damaging effects on ecosystems. In looking at reducing plastic products, one solution has long been in use but is being seen with new eyes: glass bottles. Once replaced for the cheaper and faster alternative plastic bottles, glass bottles are having a renaissance and growing popularity in public sentiment.

A common vessel for many liquid products, glass bottles were first created over 3,000 years ago, hand-blown by glass artisans. Overtaken by alternatives following the Industrial Revolution, there has been a resurgence in the mass manufacturing of glass bottle and glass container products in recent years.

Benefits of Using Glass Bottles

100% recyclable, glass bottles are a perfect alternative to the inefficient waste of plastic bottles. The inherent benefit of glass bottles is that they will never become obsolete, serving a purpose for as long as the glass can remain intact. Nonporous and impermeable, glass bottles are perfect for storing and preserving perishable items without affecting taste. There is also a built-in cost savings element with glass bottles, reducing packaging when they can be refilled for additional products. For products like milk, kombucha, and beer, many stores and shops will allow customers to bring in their glass bottles to fill up for a reduced price compared to pre-packaged offerings. That amount of savings is cumulative over time.

There's also no risk of artificial products seeping into food, as has been known to happen with plastic products. Dangerous chemicals like BPA can leach into food housed within plastic containers, leading to long-term health ailments and medical issues. Glass has no such downside, making it often the preferred vehicle for breast milk for nursing mothers. They are also more hygienic, their surface not conducive to mold and other bacteria infecting food products. They are simple to clean and are dishwasher safe.

Glass Bottle Collection

Almost all major cities in the US include glass bottle recycling in their waste management services. Along with cardboard, aluminum, and plastic, glass bottles are commonly collected in recycling bins and taken to processing plants to be sorted.

In 10 states in the US, there is a container deposit law in which a fee is assessed on all products containing soda, beer, or water. These containers, glass included, can be returned for the denomination of the deposit. This incentive in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont can range from 5 cents to 10 cents per bottle. These are processed at sites separate from normal bottle recycling bins.

There are also some supermarkets and stores that collect glass bottles on behalf of customers, typically jugs or growlers that were purchased for liquids distributed from a tap. The economic incentive helps to drive sustainability and recycling initiatives.

Glass Bottle Recycling

The most common way that glass bottles are recycled is through continued use by the customer. By not even entering the recycling and waste management system, they are a self-sustaining product, the very definition of recycling.

However, for glass bottles that are recycled through waste removal, they are taken back to a processing plant where they are melted down and remade. Sorted out by color they are sanitized of any pre-existing materials, crushed down, and melted to the heating point of glass, which is 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. This highly efficient process allows for over 80% of the recycled glass to be remade into new bottles. With over 80 glass processing plants across 35 states in America, this allows for a highly effective recycling system to repurpose materials for future use.

Glass bottles are made by heating and compressing a mixture of sand, limestone, and other minerals readily found on the planet. The nature of glass allows for multiple reuses of existing material, a sustainable and repeatable process that can't be said for plastic. In this modern world, not only do glass bottles have a place, they might be the solution for a healthy and vibrant planet.