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GLASS
Glass Crushing Plant
Collection: Glass is collected separately from all other materials. All colors of bottles and jars are accepted. No window glass, auto glass or ceramics. All lids should be removed, but it is not necessary to remove labels.
The MRF in Santa Fe operates under separate collection for glass. Worker safety is a constant challenge on a sort line, even in the absence of shards of glass hidden amongst other materials. Conveyor systems and sorting equipment also are susceptible to costly failures caused by the abrasive nature of glass. The most significant problem with single-stream glass is the potential negative effect on paper value. Domestic paper buyers are very aware of the problems glass can and does cause. When they can be assured of a clean, post-consumer source of fiber, they take notice.
Processing:
Glass is tipped in an isolated area near the glass crusher. It is then loaded into a hopper where is passes through a series of rotating metal hammers. These hammers crush the glass into two different sizes. One is a sand like consistency and the other is gravel zed. The machine is monitored by workers to remove large contaminants such as plastic bottles, cardboard, or cans and a mechanism on the crusher moves small contaminants such as labels.
Remanufacture:
Glass is a very dense material and because Santa Fe is not located near a bottling mill, shipping glass to a mill across the country is not environmentally or economically sound. Thus Santa fe is forced to find alternative markets. Currenty the gravel sized glass is used for landscaping purspose and the fine san sized galss is used as a componentin interior wall paint and plaster as well as a component in pcice like sones used for cleaning.
Recycling Tidbits Every
month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant
skyscraper. All of these jars are recyclable! |
