RE: [GreenYes] looking for broken glass explanation

["Steen, Terri - Contractor" <Terri_Steen@belvoir.army.mil>]

Ben, and others,

The problem is not so much the breakage itself, but the fact that the colors
(flint, amber, and green) get mixed together in little broken pieces that
are effectively impossible (i.e., way too expensive) to separate.  When (or
IF) mixed-color cullet is recycled, it produces a gray, unattractive color
that people probably wouldn't want to buy pickles or etc. in.  That's why
it's main "value" is for lower-end applications such as road beds, and I
have yet to find any good list of road bed aggregate traders!

If your glass is separated by color first, than it doesn't matter so much if
it breaks since it will be crushed anyway as part of the recycling process.
You would want to minimize breakage to protect the tires of people driving
around the recycling center, and also to keep containers and trucks from
getting too heavy for interim transport.  When we haul a 30-yard rolloff of
plastic to market, it weighs maybe a ton if we're lucky (or it rained!).
The same size truck full of glass weighs 4 to 6 tons.

Hope this helps.  Thanks for asking.
Terri 

-----Original Message-----
From: The Eden Sterling Company [mailto:info@edensterling.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 3:53 PM
To: greenyes@grrn.org
Subject: [GreenYes] looking for broken glass explanation


Can someone explain to me and perhaps to others how broken glass decreases
the value of it for recycling purposes?

Thanks,
Ben Randolph


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