glass+recycling

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Facts about glass recycling:

 * An estimated 80% new glass bottles are recovered glass containers.
 * Glass can never wear out (4).
 * glass containers produced today are 40% lighter than they were 20 years ago, making glass much easier to recycle (1).
 * Americans recycle nearly 13 million glass jars and bottles every day (1).
 * the typical glass processing facility can recycle up to 20 tons of glass per hour (1).
 * a glass bottle can take up to one million years to breakdown (3).
 * a recycled glass bottle can go to a recycling bin back to a stores shelf with in 30 days (6).
 * Recycling one glass bottles saves enough energy to power a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours (5).

How is glass recycled?

 * Glass is recyled in steps, these steps are:
 * 1) Separation of contaminants-any glass that has been contaminanted by color mixing (7).
 * 2) Cullet Creation-Cullet is crushed glass. Its created by melting down bottles and jars in a furnace (7).
 * 3) Reformation-the main ingredient in new glass containers is cullet (7).

The Color Significance of Glass Recycling:
Colorless Glass
 * colorless glass is glass that is completely transparent because it is devoid of color. It is sometimes referred to as "clear" glass but "colorless" is a more fitting description because this type of glass is carefully made to avoid the presense of color (8).

Green Glass
 * Green glass has more variety of shades than any other color, making it a popular color choice for glass bottles. Green glass is usually "colored" using metals like iron, chromium or copper. Green glass bottles keep the sunlight and temperature out of the bottle to keep the temperature in the bottle, which explains why green is a popular color choice (8).

Blue Glass
 * Blue Glass is formed naturally as the result of iron impurities found in most sands. Cobalt oxide can be added during the manufacturing to make the blue darker (8).

Brown Glass
 * Brown Glass is also known as "Amber" glass. Brown glass is produced with the addition of sulfer, carbon, and nickel during the process of manufacturing. Brown glass is similar to Green glass. A small amount of green glass can be produced to make a brown glass or vise versa (8).

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Sites: (1)Facts about Glass Recycling. Earth 911. 12 March 2010. []. (2)Glass Recycling Facts. A Recycling Revolution. 17 March 2010. []. (3)Recycling Facts. Why Recycle?. 17 March 2010. []. (4)Glass. Recycling Facts. 18 March 2010. []. (5)Glass Facts. Recycling Resources. 18 March 2010. []. (6)Benefits of Glass Recyling: Why recycle Glass?. Environmental issues. 18 March 2010. []. (7)How is Glass recycled?. Earth 911. 18 March 2010. []. (8)The Color Significance of Glass. Earth 911. 18 March 2010. []. (9)__Glass Video__. Dir. Rumpkee Recycling. 2006-2010. Video. [].