Glass recycling

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

We had (well, had) a large glass topped coffee table and the 3' by 3' glass broke. Is there some place we can take it for recycling? It's in rather large pieces, and won't fit into our (dainty little) blue bin.

Thanks!

Comments

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

No, but I can loan you a hammer =)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

One option is to try and call a store specializing in glass or mirrors. At the least, they may be able to tell you what to do with it. Another option is to call the DPW. They may ask you to bring it directly to the dump. Maybe you can get to smash it in the process. It is possible, but chances are, curbside recycling will not accept it. It may not be the right type of glass.

PSA: Recycling can be very particular about what they will and will not accept. The reason is that they do not have the ability to sort through and remove contaminating items. If you contaminate the recycling stream, recycles will often just dump the whole load out and send it straight to the landfill, wasting everyone's efforts and creating the landfill waste we hoped to avoid in the first place. Lots of recycling used to end up just getting landfilled. I'm not saying this glass can't be recycled or that they do that here in Somerville, but at least a few years ago, avoiding contamination of the recycle stream was paramount.

[veek.livejournal.com]

I thought broken glass isn't recyclable?..

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

It's a good point, and one of the reasons I asked here. We will give DPW a call.

[ron_newman]

I don't think window or mirror glass is recyclable in Somerville, even if you break it up into small pieces.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

How broken is it? If it is in large enough pieces, it may have some value to a glass or mirror store.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

It's in pretty decently large peices with VERY sharp edges.

[cityofbeige.livejournal.com]

I was going to say the same. Glass stores will probably take it off your hands. And in fact, they might be able to cut you a new piece just like it at a discount price because they'll "buy" the old material off of you.

[aquaflame16.livejournal.com]

This will be a different kind of glass than that which is taken in regular recycling. Container glass and window/mirror/sheet glass are made in different ways and are not inter-compatible for recycling.

Most (container) glass recycling is done by turning the old containers into cullet(basically ground up bits of glass), which is used in the manufacture of new containers. Making container glass always uses some percentage of cullet, and when a higher amount of cullet can be used, as opposed to raw materials, the manufacturing process uses a lot less energy, which also makes it cheaper. (Incidentally, because of this, container glass is one of the most profitable and effective types of recycling.)

I don't know whether sheet glass can be recycled in the same way, but maybe a glass shop could reuse the pieces somehow? Or a place that makes stained glass?

Also, this is from http://www.gpi.org/recycling/ which has a good deal of info about glass recycling.
"Q. Is there a way to reuse glass that container manufacturers can’t accept?

A. Cullet that doesn’t meet container manufacturing standards and non-container glass are used in tile, filtration, sand blasting, concrete pavements and parking lots, decorative items, and fiber glass."