Glass

Glass can be recycled for ever and ever, without loss of quality, as long as it is put in a glass bank, so it’s important to make use of this infinitely recyclable resource. When you recycle glass, it reduces the need for new material and the energy used to extract and transport it and therefore creates less pollution.

Recycling just one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a light bulb for one hour and a laptop for 30 mins – so that really does make quite a difference!

Glass is collected for reprocessing in the UK. The glass is separated into different colours and broken down into small particles called cullet, ready to be used for new bottles and jars. Please separate different coloured glass at the glass banks where facilities exist but if you only have access to a mixed glass bank, the processor can separate the colours later.

This is called “closed loop recycling” and can be done an infinite number of times.

Any metal caps left on the bottles will be separated using magnets and will be recycled.

If you find your local glass bank is full, please contact the number on the bank - 01842 820804 – or your district council, so they know that the bank needs emptying.

Find contact details for your district council here.

If the glass banks are full, please do not leave excess glass bottles and jars around the banks. This can cause a hazard and is classed as fly tipping.

Glass in recycling bins causes a big problem as the Material Recycling Facility (MRF), where your recycling is taken to be sorted and baled, as it is not set up to separate glass from the other materials.

Glass breaks into small pieces during the collection and sorting process, which coats good recycling with small pieces of glass which may prevent it from being recycled, particularly paper and card.

At the end of the sorting process, all the remaining glass pieces are collected with other items that are too small to be recycled. This is sent to the Energy from Waste facility where it is used as a fuel to generate electricity, along with other rejected items such as bagged waste, nappies and food.

So what’s wrong with that? As well as the potential spoiling of other good quality recycling, this double handling costs taxpayers more money as we are paying for both recycling and disposal. It is also a waste of a valuable resource as glass mistakenly placed in recycling bins will not be recycled - meaning it’s the end of the road for this resource which can be endlessly recycled.

All material in Suffolk’s rubbish bins is processed at the Energy from Waste facility. Here it is used as a fuel to generate electricity. During this process the glass melts but remains as part of the ash left over at the end of the process. This ash is sorted into grades and used as a material in construction, so it could be used as a base layer in road building for example.

Putting a non-combustible material through a process designed to burn combustible material wastes energy and is not as good as recycling, as the glass will only be able to be used once, whereas it can be endlessly recycled if collected for recycling at a glass bank.

The Material Recycling Facility (MRF) in Suffolk, where the recycling is sorted and baled is not set up separate glass from the other materials as this would require another screening process for which we currently do not have the capacity.

The glass bank system in Suffolk has been established for many years and is very well used with about 70% of all the glass bottles and jars used being recycled in this way (around 16,000 tonnes of glass per year). There are over 1,000 bottle banks in Suffolk, many of them situated at supermarkets and village halls. To find your local bottle bank, use the bank locator above. Glass banks are also found at all of Suffolk’s Recycling Centres.

The Government’s Resources and Waste strategy (2018) which is currently under review is looking at consistency of recycling collections across England. It is considering making the materials that are collected for recycling the same across the country, which would simplify systems and avoid confusion from place to place. This list of materials is likely to include glass. So, in the future Suffolk may have to look at an alternative or an enhancement to the current glass bank collection system. These changes are not likely to happen for some time, so for now, your glass is best placed in a glass recycling bank.

You could ask a friend or neighbour to recycle your glass bottles for you when they are going to a glass bank or you can take one or two empties at a time, so they are not heavy. Most supermarkets have a glass bank in the car park where you can return them when you are shopping. Placing bottles in your rubbish bin is seen as a last resort, as the glass will not get recycled and therefore renewable resources will be wasted.

Please contact your district council if you would like to discuss the installation of a new glass bank in your community.