RECYCLE YOUR GLASS IN GUILDFORD AND BACK A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN

This week (16th - 22nd June) is National Glass Week, an initiative supported by British Glass, the trade federation for the UK glass industry, which encourages consumers to select products packaged in glass, and recycle all the glass they use. Guildford Borough Council is supporting National Glass Week and hoping to persuade its residents to think about how they dispose of their glass, encouraging them to recycle it rather than just throw it away.

Recycling glass bottles, jars and containers into new products not only has benefits for consumers by reducing the cost of producing packaging, but also benefits the environment. Energy savings, lower emissions, reduced landfill and a reduction in quarrying for raw materials are all benefits of glass recycling and the energy saved when recycling a single glass bottle is enough to power a 100-watt light bulb for nearly an hour. It is a popular misconception that recycling glass is actually bad for the environment - it takes less energy to recycle glass than to melt down the original raw materials, and glass is 100% recyclable and can be infinitely recycled with no loss of quality.

Over 587,000 tonnes of glass was recycled during 2002 in the UK, collected from over 50,000 bottle banks, and glass recycling through bottle banks is one of the most environmentally friendly and successful schemes in the UK today. With the advent of kerbside recycling collections such as the Green Box scheme in the Borough of Guildford, residents are further encouraged to recycle their glass, and do their bit for the environment. In the last three months alone, Guildford residents have put out over 625 tonnes of glass in their Green Boxes that has all gone to be recycled and proves how conscientious most residents are being.

Currently around a third of glass packaging produced in the UK is recycled although people still need to increase these figures to catch up with the rest of Europe where 80 - 90 per cent is recycled. Despite the extensive benefits of recycling glass, nearly 1.5 million tonnes still continue to end up in landfill sites each year, such as that at Albury. Guildford's residents can prevent this by recycling all their glass bottles, jars and containers.

Green glass is by far the most predominant colour collected for recycling in the UK, mainly due to a love of French wine and imported bottled beers. However, it is clear and brown glass that is produced in larger quantities in the UK and British Glass are promoting the use and recycling of these colours during National Glass week to ensure that more of the glass we produce is recycled.

For information on how to do your bit, and where to recycle glass at bottle banks in your area, contact the Guildford Borough Council Recycling Hotline on 01483 445084, or log on to www.guildfordborough.gov.uk .

For further information, please contact Jennifer Holl or Debbie Egerton at The GEM Group:
Jennifer Holl - Tel: 01483 209826 / Email: [email protected]
Debbie Egerton - Tel: 01483 209817 / E-mail: [email protected]