RE: [greenyes] RE: Env Benefits of Recycling Glass

[Helen Spiegelman <hspie@no.address>]

Glass as aggregate substitute?

Just to put this in perspective:

Cities and towns justify "recycling" glass bottles into gravel by pointing 
out that it reduces the demand for virgin gravel [or, in MN case, augments 
dwindling supply].

Gravel mining is indeed a destructive process, but substituting glass for 
gravel makes hardly a dent. If every shard of the 13 million tons of used 
container glass generated in the United States were successfully collected 
up and used as gravel substitute, this would displace less than one half of 
one percent of the gravel that is mined from quarries and riverbeds each year.

Would these savings in gravel consumption compensate for the write-off on 
the 83 trillion BTUs of energy that was spent to make the bottles and jars 
from sand in the first place. Energy cannot be recycled. Every glass bottle 
"recycled" into gravel must be created again.

Is this recycling?

Helen.


At 04:20 PM 11/05/2003 -0600, Christopher Cloutier wrote:
> Here in MN there is an acute gravel shortage. The best and most productive
> gravel pits that yielded Class 5 gravel, the class of gravel used in
> roadbase, have been paved over and turned into housing development (ah, the
> irony). Also, there are "rock poor" counties that have no minable class 5
> gravel and have to import it to make roadbase.