Matt asked:
i live in south carolina. all auto glass is just thrown in a dumpster to take to the landfill.
Martin
i live in south carolina. all auto glass is just thrown in a dumpster to take to the landfill.
Martin
Tags: Auto Glass, Dumpster, Landfill
Making new glass is very cheap. Some landfills separate and recycle materials, including glass.
As far as I know almost all auto glass there days is “shatter proof.” Basically there’s a thin plastic like (I don’t remember exactly what the material is) layer between 2 sheets of glass so that when the glass is struck and breaks, it won’t shatter and fall all of the passengers of the vehicle. So recycling auto glass would mean they would have to get that middle layer out to reuse the glass. I think it is just too much work to to be worth doing.
I would imagine that it’s just easier to throw glass away than to recycle it. Not to say that’s the best way to do it, but when a person is running a business it just isn’t profitable to recycle, so that aspect is ignored. The site I reference below shows some ways that windshield glass is recycled… up until recently the only use for old auto glass was for art. That would not create near enough demand for all the old glass produced.
Tempered auto glass is unrecyclable.
From various websites: Auto glass and and window glass is made from different materials than food jars. They aren’t easily recycled. That is also true of drinking glasses and glass vases.
When technology advances, maybe there will eventually be a recyclable use for this glass.