Glass Bottles

arctictree

So, I bring my used beer/mineral bottles to a recycle centre.

Does anyone know what happens to them then? Do they all get smashed up and then re built into other bottles?

Seems very inefficient to me. In Germany, you bring back the bottles in a crate and they get sent back to the company for washing and refilling.

10-10-20

We used to do that here with the old milk bottles...
I don't think Irish people buy enough of any one thing to warrant getting a reusable crate with it. Beer is usually consumed in cans, and if we do buy bottled beers, it's in small bottles...

Anyhow, yes most of the glass is broken into cullet and remelted into bottles but some of it is used to manufacturer insulation, and some goes into roads in addition to stone.
Here's a good page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling

paulmallon

I have to agree with artictree. I used to do some design work around those glass and other plants.The amount of power/energy these plants use is very high. Crushers,screens etc.. Some of the product is bagged into 50kg bags and sold for shotblasting steel.

Red Alert

Remember the old milk bottles that you left out for the milkman - surely the government should do a producers tax on non-reusable cartons/bottles and a higher one on non-recyclable cartons/bottles. Look how well the 15 cents on the bags did, but I don't think the consumer is in control of this one.

arctictree

Red Alert wrote:

Remember the old milk bottles that you left out for the milkman - surely the government should do a producers tax on non-reusable cartons/bottles and a higher one on non-recyclable cartons/bottles. Look how well the 15 cents on the bags did, but I don't think the consumer is in control of this one.

My pet hate are those 330ml plastic mineral bottles. I live in the countryside and they are feckin everywhere - in the ditches, rivers, roadsides etc etc. This election I am changing my voting habits and am going to vote green as I saw this in their policies:

http://www.greenparty.ie/en/policies/waste/zero_waste_policy_2004

More specifically:

n Government, the Green Party will:

* Introduce a refundable deposit system on reusable/refillable containers (plastic bottles, aluminium cans etc.) and a levy on containers/ packaging that cannot be re-used or recycled.
* Introduce legislation to oblige retailers to stock a greater percentage of products in re-usable and refillable containers
* Provide start-up grants for businesses which wish to set up re-use/repair services


I think this would be a step in the right direction (if it was implemented)

A

arctictree

I sent an email to Deirdre DeBurca in the green party about plastic bottles, waste etc etc

Here is her response:

" ....I am very interested in the issue of waste and litter and have even taken a court case at my own personal expense trying to get Wicklow County Council to reverse its decision to privatise the waste collection service in the county. I have also been successful in getting WCC to come down very heavily on illegal dumping in West Wicklow.

Thank you for reporting the serious littering and fly-tipping in your area. It is of course an issue that I feel very strongly about and would have no hesitation in committing to dedicating further funding to resource the policing and clean-up of such waste around the county if elected. And as you say, the Greens are committed to introducing a Deposit Refund Scheme for platic bottles and cans when we are in Govt.


Please do contact me again if I can be of further help.

Regards

Deirdre "

DublinWriter

Didn't Germany ban the use of plastic bottles a good few years back?

Capt'n Midnight

DublinWriter wrote:

Didn't Germany ban the use of plastic bottles a good few years back?

wasn't that Denmark

Anyway since the glass factory closed is there any point in recycling glass ?
the raw materials are very cheap and the energy cost in exporting the glass probably outweighs the saving. Don't they crush it and use in building roads ?

D'Peoples Voice

Red Alert wrote:

Look how well the 15 cents on the bags did

Some retailers such as IKEA use biodegradable plastic bags, yes such things exist. Now perhaps the government should force retailers to see their fruit and vegetables in such biodegradable bags...oh wait there a flying pig!

Mellor

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Some retailers such as IKEA use biodegradable plastic bags, yes such things exist. Now perhaps the government should force retailers to see their fruit and vegetables in such biodegradable bags...oh wait there a flying pig!

I dont mean to sound rude, but I imagine that you have a bin in your home,
for non recyclable waste, what do you use to line it?

tampopo

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Some retailers such as IKEA use biodegradable plastic bags, yes such things exist. Now perhaps the government should force retailers to see their fruit and vegetables in such biodegradable bags...oh wait there a flying pig!

Used to live in San Francisco in the early '90's and occasionally look at the news.yahoo.com site. The SF Board of Supervisors (city council) have just introduced such a measure in the last two or three weeks. Try SFgate.com, it may be there....

enda1

Mellor wrote:

I dont mean to sound rude, but I imagine that you have a bin in your home,
for non recyclable waste, what do you use to line it?

We use those biodegradable bags. My mam bought them anyway. Can't remember who makes them. They're an Irish company though who make a load different rubbish bags. Pretty crap bags though, too thin.

Mellor

enda1 wrote:

We use those biodegradable bags. My mam bought them anyway. Can't remember who makes them. They're an Irish company though who make a load different rubbish bags. Pretty crap bags though, too thin.

For one you are in the minority, I know this as fact. I worked in a supermarket for a number of years.
Claiming retailers should be forced to use them is a bit harsh if most people dont use them at home. They aren't as good as regular bags, alot of people here probably use them as its the green forum though, I've never seen fresh food to sale in them, are they safe?

I dont know it this is the case for all supermarkets but superquinn do alot for recycling. They recycle cardboard and plastic packagings, they have separate machines to load them into bails that are taken to recycling plants. Fresh food waste is put in biogradable bags and put into a large special bins, basicly huge compost bins.