The importance of bottles cannot be emphasized enough in the world today. It makes holding, transporting, and packaging of matter easy and convenient. With that said, there has to be a responsible way of maintaining a balance between the bottles that are produced, and those that are disposed of completely. This will only be achievable through bottle recycling.
Why Is Bottle Recycling Important?
- Recycling reduces pollution to the environment by getting rid of waste bottles and cans.
- With less pollution of the environment, habitats are preserved and global warming is curbed.
- Recycling saves energy because less of it is necessary to recycle the bottles than to manufacture them from raw materials.
- When we recycle bottles, we decrease the need for more landfill sites.
- Production costs go down with recycling, resulting in overall economic gains.
Types of Bottles
Bottles are wide-bodied rigid containers with their mouths at the end of narrow necks. There are several types of bottles made from materials such as glass, plastic, clay, metal, and other impermeable elements. The following are the most common types of bottles:
Glass Bottles
These bottles are manufactured by blowing molten glass into containers and jars. Glass bottles and glass jars are very rigid, and are available in a vast array of shapes, sizes, and colors. Their common use is for wines, soft drinks, milk, beers, jam, and more.
Plastic Bottles
These are light and flexible containers made from plastic. The plastic bottle is a very popular commercial bottle because of its low cost of production and raw material. Plastic bottles find use in almost all industries.
Aluminum Cans or Bottles
Aluminum cans and bottles are made of 100% recyclable aluminum. There is a broad range of aluminum containers available in different styles, profiles, and configurations. Aluminum containers are very popular with beverage marketers because of their durability, lightweight, and recyclability.
Glass Bottle Recycling process and its Environmental Impact
The recycling of glass bottles follows a number of processes after they have been collected in bottle banks or other forms of collection. The processes start with the crashing of the bottles and the removal of contaminants. At this stage, if necessary, mechanical color sorting takes place. In the next stage, the manufacturers mix them with raw materials to either color or enhance their properties as desired. Finally, the manufacturers melt them down in a furnace and turn them into new bottles and other products through molding or blowing.
Glass bottles are 100% recyclable, meaning that they can be reprocessed over and over again without a loss of quality. This is significant for the environment because it does not need to be burdened with constant quarrying and mining of raw materials to produce new bottles if we can simply reuse what we have.
Lists of Products Made From Recycled Glass
- Wine bottles
- Soda bottles
- Jam jars
- Glass panes
- Glass wool insulators
Plastic Bottle Recycling process and Its Environmental Impact
The recycling of plastic bottles goes through a sorting stage, followed by the shredding of the plastic into flakes. The flakes undergo washing before melting and pelletizing, or in other terms, processed into granulate. Manufacturers can then make these granules into any plastic product, including new bottles.
When plastics are recycled, the need for producing more plastic lessens. The resulting impact on the environment is thus edged on the conservation of non-renewable fuels, the reduction in energy consumption, a cut down on the number of wastes ending up in landfills, and a considerable cutback on the emission of dangerous gases into the environment.
Compactor Management Company (former Northern California Compactors, Inc.) offers installation and support services for waste recycling equipment such as waste compactors, balers, shredders & conveyor systems. Established in 1981, it offers waste management solutions across the United States.
