How glass is recycled

Collection

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• Empty glass bottles and jars are collected in bottle banks across Hampshire - or through collection schemes in some areas - and taken to a sorting facility to be reprocessed.

Crushing and sorting

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• The bottles and jars are sorted on a conveyor, crushed and any contaminants, such as metal and plastic caps, are removed by powerful vacuums.

  The small pieces of broken glass (cullet) is then sorted by colour using air jets and mixed with the raw materials needed to make new glass (sand, soda, ash and limestone).

Melting and re-using

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• The more recycled cullet that is used (up to 90%), the fewer raw materials are required. The cullet is then melted and cut into individual pieces which can then be fired and blown into new bottles and jars.

  The new bottles are then sent to companies to be filled with new products and into shops, for the process to start all over again.