Glass Recycling in the United Kingdom

GLASS RECYCLING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: PROSPECTS
                            AND CHALLENGES


Karinate Valentine Okiy
School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Leeds, United Kingdom.
Email: karinateokiy@gmail.com

     
       

ABSTRACT
This review talks about the importance of waste glass recycling to the glass manufacturing sector centred mainly on the United Kingdom. An evaluation of limiting factors militating against the growth of waste glass recycling in the glass manufacturing sector is done drawing from a variety of literature sources. This showed that recycled waste glass utilization was beneficial in terms of its potential energy savings, environmental benefits, C02 emissions reduction in line with the existing UK government and European Union legislations.   However, further research is needed in the area of the comparative cost analysis of recycled waste glass and raw material usage in glass manufacturing to make a case for the maximum utilization of recycled waste glass in the glass manufacturing industry   in the light of   limiting factors such as colour imbalance, recycled waste glass quality.

  1.0 INTRODUCTION
Glass Recycling is an important in the glass manufacturing industry. The industrial applications of recycled waste glass are enormous and varied, encompassing manufacture of filtration media, shot abrasives, bricks and ceramics, building aggregates, road surfacing materials, ceramics production, piping and insulation materials e.t.c.
Over the years, there have been a lot of publications on the topic of glass recycling, with a lot of focus on the utilization of recycled glass in the container glass manufacturing sector which accounts for about 80 percent of the United Kingdom’s recycled glass consumption (WRAP 2004).
This review focuses mainly on the key aspects of glass recycling pertaining to the benefits of glass recycling, economic issues pertaining to...