The use of glass as a material for packaging dates back to approximately 3,000 years BC. However, various archaeological studies have found glass in Egyptian tombs from earlier dates, which is why glass was part of the daily life of human beings since ancient Egyptian times. These data reveal the importance of the use of glass in our lives, although as we can imagine, its use was not always linked to its proper management and the consideration of the degradation time of glass in nature. At present, we know that the advantages of recycling glass are very important and valuable and that avoiding the possible effects of glass contamination, both in nature and in urban anthropic ecosystems, is essential.
If you want to know how long does it take for glass to degrade and numerous data and measures related to its management, continue reading this Green Ecologist article.
How long does it take for glass to degrade - the answer
Glass takes from about 4,000 years to more than 5,000 years to degrade. Among the different wastes that humans generate in greater quantity, glass is the one that has the longest residence time in nature. To see this difference more clearly, let's put some examples of common residues and their time of degradation or permanence in nature:
- Role: 1 year.
- Cigar butts: 1-2 years.
- Chewing gums: 5 years.
- Soda cans: 200-500 years.
You can find out more about how long it takes for waste or residues to degrade here.
As we can imagine, these long periods of permanence in the nature of the waste lead to numerous environmental problems. Specifically, some of the most common risks or dangers of glass for the environment are the contamination of water, soil and, in general, of ecosystems and the entire planet, as well as the loss of biodiversity of different organisms, which suffer illnesses or even death as a result of being in contact with this residue.
Why is it important to recycle glass?
The importance of glass recycling is that it is a 100% recyclable material. Therefore, we can say that glass has infinite lives and recycling it will be a great benefit, both to facilitate its management as waste, as well as to reduce the extraction of its constituent materials.
In addition, glass does not lose its quality even if it is reused or recycled hundreds of times and, knowing the slow degradation of glass and the possible agents linked to the glass contamination, it is really essential to do a good management of your recycling. There are numerous examples and specific data that allow us to see more clearly why it is important to recycle glass, among them, saving the energy needed to charge the battery of a smartphone for 1 year and that of a tablet for 10 months; with the simple recycling of 3 glass bottles. In this other article you can learn much more about Why it is important to recycle glass.
Let's see in the next sections of the article some tips and ideas to recycle and reuse glass, and thus achieve energy savings and other benefits associated with recycling glass.
How to reuse glass
Manage in a sustainable and responsible way glass waste that we generate does not consist exclusively in recycling it, but by reusing it we will be collaborating more efficiently in the optimal consumption of this material. Thanks to its resistance and homogeneous and inorganic structure, glass containers can have a new life and different uses within our own home. Among some of the most common and ingenious ways of reuse glass stand out:
- Use them to store liquids (oil, vinegar, water, etc.).
- In the pantry, as containers for food, such as beans, cookies, and pasta.
- In the fridge for storing sauces.
- Use the glass jars as a tupper or lunch box to carry salads or cereals with yogurt when eating out.
- In decoration, they can be used as vases and centerpieces with flowers, as candle holders or with sandalwood sticks inside to perfume.
Discover here more simple ideas to recycle glass bottles.
How to recycle glass - what container does it go in?
When it comes to recycling glass, we must go to green container, in which only and exclusively the various types of glass containers that we use in our day to day are collected. Next, we indicate what should be deposited specifically in this container, since sometimes we can doubt as to what waste and materials go in each container, as it usually happens with the lids of cans and glass bottles, do they go in the green container or in the yellow? Let's get rid of doubts:
What can be recycled in the green container
- Yes: glass bottles, jars and jars.
- No: caps or lids (they must be placed in the yellow container); crystals (glasses, glasses or light bulbs, you will have to take them to the closest clean point) and porcelain or ceramic (plates or cups that you should also leave in a green or clean point).
Here you can learn more about what can be recycled in the green recycling container.
When preparing the glass that we will later deposit in the green container for optimal waste management, it is important to do a previous separation at home. For this, the most common is the use of an exclusive garbage can for the glass container recycling, as well as trying to eliminate as much as possible, the liquid and other remains that may have remained as waste in the bottles and glass containers that we are recycling.
On the other hand, if instead of opting for the glass recycling at home We prefer to make use of the returnable glass bottle points, we can always find out about the closest places (shop, bar, machines, etc.), where this ingenious method of recycling glass containers is carried out.
To finish, we recommend this other post by Green Ecologist on How to recycle glass.
If you want to read more articles similar to How long does it take for glass to degrade, we recommend that you enter our Recycling and waste management category.
Bibliography- Rodríguez, R., Gómez, N., Zarauza, P. & Benítez, A. M. (2013) Environmental Education, Waste and Recycling. Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning of the Junta de Andalucía, Ecoembes & Ecovidrio.
- Rodríguez, G. & IMAGINA, Education and Leisure Team (2015) University guide to environmental education on waste and recycling. Andalusia EcoCampus.
