Recycle glass in USA

Recycle glass in USA

Started
September 3, 2020
Signatures: 3,782Next Goal: 5,000
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Why this petition matters

Started by Karlina Griffith

Glass can be recycled endlessly by crushing, blending, and melting it together with sand and other starting materials. Doing so benefits manufacturers, the environment, and consumers. Yet each year only one-third of the roughly 10 million metric tons of glass that Americans throw away is recycled. The rest ends up in landfills. In contrast, some European countries recycle more than 90% of their waste glass.

Advantages:

  • The cost savings of recycling is in the use of energy. Compared to making glass from raw materials for the first time, cullet melts at a lower temperature. So we can save on energy needed to melt the glass.
  • Glass produced from recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20% and related water pollution by 50%.
  • Recycling glass reduces the space in landfills that would otherwise be taken up by used bottles and jars.
  • Using glass for recycling means there are less glass objects lying around in the landfill or bin.

    It takes 1 MILLION YEARS for a glass bottle to decompose. 


The long-lasting nature of glass also means that glass can be recycled forever. It never wears out as a raw material, so old bottles and jars can be remanufactured into new glass containers over and over and over again.

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Signatures: 3,782Next Goal: 5,000
Support now
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