Glass

What types of glass can be recycled?

Most people think of only wine and beer bottles when recycling glass, but most glass containers can be recycled, such as medicine bottles, jam and sauce jars, olive oil bottles and coffee jars.

Glass bottles and jars come in three main colours; green, brown, and clear, which can all be recycled. If the glass colour is hidden by labelling you can check the colour by looking at the top or the base of the jar or bottle.

Please note: Blue glass bottles can be put in the green glass bottle bank for recycling.

Glass that you CAN'T recycle:

• mirrors

• Pyrex & Visionware or other cookware.

• light bulbs

• window glass

• Wine and drinking glasses

How to recycle glass

Empty bottles and jars and rinse them out so they are clean for storage and ready for recycling. You don't need to remove the labels

Remove lids, plastic caps or corks

Put your bottles and jars in your collection box/bag/bin for recycling or take them to your nearest bottle bank. Make sure you select the right bank for each glass colour

How glass is recycled

When the glass recycling banks are emptied the glass is then sold to a re-processor or glass maker. It is monitored for purity, contaminants are taken out, and it is crushed. This crushed glass is called 'cullet'. It may then be added to the mixture in a furnace for making new glass products, or it may be sold for another use such as a road surfacing material.