Vroom-clink Time to Wake Up

The recycling truck comes early in my neighborhood. Very early. Like before daylight early. Sometimes the repeating vroom of the vehicle moving from house to house fits into my morning dream. When the truck gets right outside my window, I hear the clinking of glass tumbling and falling. Suddenly I’m awake wondering about that glass.

We have single stream recycling in our county, meaning we get to put all of the recyclables into one 64 gallon container and wheel it out to the curb. It’s easy. No sorting. But on these loud vrooming glass-clinking mornings, I wonder how well that works. Obviously some glass breaks. I can hear it when the truck’s hydraulic arm lifts and dumps the container. The heavy green and brown bottles might make it okay, but the thinner clear applesauce and jelly jars are in jeopardy.

While attending a Recycle Florida Today workshop recently, I heard that recycling haulers are least fond of glass. It breaks and is easily contaminated by being co-mingled with non-recyclable glass such as Pyrex or window glass. Also, colored glass while recyclable, cannot be mixed. Then there’s the market. Selling glass to recyclers comes and goes. The bottom line is that recycling glass from commingled bins is not a cinch.

Nevertheless, when I remove a full basket of recyclables from under my kitchen sink and add it to the 64 gallon container which I wheel to the street, I feel pretty righteous. Somewhat oblivious perhaps, but righteous.

Factoids about recycling glass:

• Thirteen million jars and bottle are recycled daily in America
• Using recycled glass to make new glass products requires 40 percent less energy than making it from all new materials. The reason - - crushed glass melts at a lower temperature than the raw materials used to make glass.
• New glass is made from sand, soda ash, and limestone.Once color is in the glass, it cannot be removed. Green bottles are recycled back into green glass and brown bottles the same.
  
• Crushed glass is also used in road pavement
• Window glass contains additives and is not recyclable