Four tips for recycling glass bottles

Due to its strong barrier properties and high transparency, glass bottles are widely used as packaging containers for beer, beverages, condiments and cosmetics. The field of these glass bottles is a special field where new and old bottles coexist, and the majority of old bottles are used. The recycling of glass bottles has created the following social benefits: saving energy, reducing landfill of glass waste, reducing the opening of glass raw materials ore, and reducing exhaust emissions from glass smelting processes. At present, the recycling methods of glass bottles include: prototype reuse, remelting, raw materials recycling, and transformation and utilization.

Prototype reuse

The prototype reuse of waste glass packaging means that the glass bottles are still used as packaging containers after recycling. The glass bottles can be divided into two types: the same packaging and the more packaging. At present, prototype packaging for glass bottle packaging is mainly for low-value and high-volume commodity packaging, such as beer bottles, soda bottles, soy sauce bottles, vinegar bottles, and some cans. As a high-value liquor bottle, medicine (medical) bottle, cosmetic bottle, there is almost no recycling. It can be said that the relationship between the packaging recovery rate and the value of the goods is inversely proportional to the higher the value of the glass bottle recycling rate of the lower the product.

The prototype reusing method saves the cost of quartz raw materials consumed when manufacturing new bottles and avoids the generation of a large amount of exhaust gas, which is worthy of promotion. However, there is a big disadvantage in that it consumes a lot of water and energy, and the cost must be included in the cost estimate when using this method.

Remelting

Re-melting and recycling refers to the use of recycled packaging glass bottles for the remanufacturing of similar or similar packaging bottles, which is essentially a method of recycling semi-finished raw materials for glass bottle manufacturing.

The specific operation is to carry out preliminary cleaning, cleaning, color classification, and other pretreatments for the recycled glass bottles; then, the melting in the reflow furnace is the same as the original manufacturing process, and is not described here in detail; finally, the regenerated material is blown through the reflow furnace. System, adsorption and other different ways of manufacturing all kinds of glass bottles.

Recycling furnace regeneration is a method for recycling glass bottles that are difficult to reuse or that cannot be reused (eg, damaged glass bottles). This method consumes more energy than the prototype reuse method.

Reuse of raw materials

The reuse of raw materials refers to the use of various glass bottle packaging wastes that cannot be reused as raw materials for the production of various glass products. The glass products here are not only glass packaging products, but also other product wastes such as other building materials and daily-use glass products. This method consumes more energy than the first two recycling methods.

The addition of crushed glass in an appropriate amount contributes to the manufacture of the glass because the cullet can be melted at a lower humidity than other raw materials. Therefore, recycling glass bottles requires less heat and the furnace body wear can also be reduced. The tests showed that the glass containers produced from recycled glass have the same transparency and container strength as the glass containers produced with new raw materials, and the use of recycled secondary materials can save 38% of energy, compared to raw materials used to manufacture glass products. Reduce air pollution by 50%, water pollution by 20%, and waste by 90%. In addition, since the loss of glass regeneration is small, the above recycling-recycling-use process can be repeated. Visible, its economic benefits and ecological benefits are very significant.

Transformation and utilization

Due to the rise of various packaging containers and the diversification of container materials, the current demand for glass bottles has declined. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the application of glass waste in other fields than bottle making, that is, transformation and utilization, and directly process the recycled glass packaging to make other useful materials.

The production of glass bottles is one of the most energy-intensive packaging products, and its recycling is very valuable.

Among the above four recycling methods, the prototype multiplexing method is the most ideal and is an energy-saving and economical recycling method. The use of transformation is a method of recycling that needs urgent development. We believe that in the future there will be more new and value-added technologies for transformation and utilization.