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Thursday, March 8, 2012

Single bin recycling bad for glass recycling

Glass maker O-I sustainability manager Penny Garland said that out of 78,000 tonnes of glass used a year in Auckland, about 42,000 tonnes was returned to be smelted in the furnaces of its Penrose factory.

"That's turning an old bottle into a new bottle."

The co-mingled collections in some former council areas e.g. the old Auckland City area where I live led to contamination, and only half of the glass recovered was recycled by O-I.

"In terms of sustainability, the fully co-mingled option is the worst option.

"Thousand of tonnes of glass recovered annually from the waste stream would be unnecessarily sent to low-level secondary markets, stockpiles, managed fills or landfills." From NZ Herald (edited)

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