[greenyes] 3-7 Plastic and Glass

["Reindl, John" <Reindl@no.address>]

In the discussion of plastics and glass recycling, one writer noted (see
below) that giving up glass would result in a large loss in the weight of
material recycled.

We have had a discussion on this issue on this list before; my personal
philosophy is that weight alone is not a good rationale to recover a
material -- instead, I believe that we should be looking more at what are
the environmental benefits of what we reduce, reuse and recycle.

John Reindl, Recycling Manager
Dane County, WI

> 
>     The question of whether glass should be included is a  complicated
one,
> but, were it to be dropped after consideration of all those factors, there
> will be a very substantial loss in recovery because glass  weighs so much.
> Adding 3-7 plastics is NOT a credible strategy to make up for that serious
> loss!
> 
>     About one-quarter of the total weight, and three quarters of the
> container weight in a recycle truck is glass.  All no. 1 & 2  plastic
bottles
> are maybe 5%.  Adding nos. 3-7 MIGHT increase that to 5.2%.