A tour of Sibelco, where your glass gets recycled!

We at Guiltless Glass recently toured the Sibelco facility in College Park, GA to see how the glass that we have been bringing them gets recycled.

The Sibelco facility processes about 150,000 tones of material every year! The glass from Guiltless Glass is only a tiny percentage (so far).

Glass begins its journey being sorted into large "bunkers" by type of glass. The type we at Guiltless Glass deliver is considered "mixed". This means that our glass has not been previously cleaned or sorted by color .

"Bunkers" with different types of glass

Mixed glass is then broken down, sorted, and cleaned and turned into glass "cullet" at the Sibelco facility. The glass passes through a series of optical scanners, electromagnetic fields, and heaters. What comes from this process is the large grain mix shown below.

In glass production, cullet is processed, recycled glass that is crushed and added to the raw materials in the furnace. It acts as a sustainable alternative to virgin materials, melting at a lower temperature which significantly reduces energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions during the manufacturing process. 

Rough mixed glass

The mix now only contains glass and is re-run through optical scanners to sort the glass into three color categories.

• Clear (Flint): This is colorless glass, often referred to by the industry term "flint." For recycling purposes, it must remain separated from colored glass to ensure the new product is also clear.

• Green: This category includes all shades of green glass. The cullet, is used to produce new green bottles and other green glass products.

• Amber (Brown): This category is made up of brown or amber-colored glass. Amber-colored "cullet" is melted down to create new amber bottles, such as those used for most beer bottles.

The glass cullet undergoes testing throughout the process to ensure it meets the buyers' specifications. Each manufacturer purchasing cullet has distinct requirements and combinations of glass base materials to ensure their manufacturing process functions properly.

Lab

The glass can be further refined to meet the specific needs of certain buyers and manufacturers. This process results in a more precise blend as required.

glass during a sorting and processing phase

The recycled glass is repurposed into various products, including new bottles, fiberglass insulation, and industrial abrasives used for cleaning. Thank you to our Guiltless Glass customers who contribute to this process by recycling their glass!!