The diagram illustrates the various stages involved in the recycling of used glass to produce new glass products.
Overall, the process is a cyclic system consisting of several key stages, starting from the initial collection of waste glass and culminating in the delivery of new products to consumers. The process can be broadly divided into three main phases: collection, factory processing, and redistribution.
To begin with, used glass bottles and jars are gathered at collection points, where they are typically sorted by color. Once collected, the waste is transported to a recycling plant. At the plant, the glass undergoes a cleaning and sorting stage to remove any impurities, such as labels or plastic caps.
The next stage involves mechanical processing, where the cleaned glass is crushed into small pieces known as cullet. This cullet is then transferred into a high-temperature furnace where it is melted into a liquid state. During this heating phase, new raw materials like sand, soda ash, and limestone are often added to the mixture. Finally, the molten glass is molded into new bottles and containers. Once the production is complete, these new items are filled and redistributed to shops, making them available for consumers to purchase again.