Glass Recycling Before and After the Green Movement
Glass recycling before and after the green movement has an intriguing history. Way back in history we were not the wasteful individuals we turned in later years. Glass recycling isn’t radical. From the time of our hunting and gathering ancestors we have produced good usage of what we had. At one time glass was a really dear commodity, so people would not readily toss glass into the trash. We didn’t become a destructive people until the coming of technology that created our natural resources easy disposable.
There is a huge difference in glass recycling before and afterward the green movement. Until recent years we were throwing away jars and bottles into the burning barrel or taking them to the local landfill. In either case, glass does not break into its component parts. When you burn down glass in your burning barrel it turns black, but does not melt away, nor does glass break down into the sand, ash and limestone that it came from.
Glass recycling before and afterward the green movement learns us the importance of reusing or recycling glass. To produce a ton of glass it involves more than a ton of raw materials. Then it requires a considerable amount of energy to produce the heat that dissolves the crude stuffs into the product that we know as glass. To form glass from recycled glass takes merely a fraction of the energy that it takes to make glass from start, and it doesn’t require any crude stuffs.
The researchers that have studied glass recycling before and afterward the green movement have learned us that it is a lot more environmentally friendly to practice glass rather than plastic. Glass is much cleaner to use as a container. Most plastics will drop off whatsoever of its attributes into the product that is contained, while glass will not.
Do you recall having milk delivered to your doorstep? If you are past the age 40 you probably still can remember the milkman delivering your milk in glass bottles. After we used the milk we rinsed out the bottles and placed them outside on the step for the milk delivery person to collect and bring back to the company. Glass recycling before and after the age of the door to door milk delivery person has changed. The grocery store chains get their milk from factory farms and the milk is delivered in plastic jugs, because plastic is a more disposable commodity and cheaper to make. The sad thing about using plastic is that plastic can only be recycled a couple of times before it turns brittle, but glass never misses any of its attributes no matter how many times it is recycled.
