• Glass almost never wears out – it can be recycled forever. It takes approximately one million years for a glass bottle to break down at the landfill
• Bottles and jars made from glass are 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss of quality.
• We save over a ton of resources for every ton of glass recycled — 1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.
• Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.
• In 2011, 34% of all glass containers were recycled.

• Approximately 8 out of 10 households recycle, and of those that do, 82% recycle glass bottles and jars.
• An estimated 80% of recovered glass containers are made into new glass bottles, and it can happen quickly. A glass container can go from a recycling bin to a store shelf in as little as 30 days.
• The use of recycled glass is more environmentally friendly than new. Recycling just one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours, or power a television for 20 minutes.
• For every six tons of recycled container glass used in the manufacturing process, one ton of carbon dioxide creation is avoided.
• There are 48 glass manufacturing plants operating in 22 states. On average, a typical glass processing facility can handle 20 tons of color-sorted glass per hour.
• About 39% of beer and soft drink bottles were recovered for recycling in 2009, according to the U.S. EPA. Also recovered were about 18.1% of wine and liquor bottles as well as almost 18% of food jars. In total, 31.1% of all glass containers were recycled.

For more information on recycling, go to our website, Pennsylvania’s recycling website (http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/recycle/recycle.htm or google padep recycling), or the County recycling website (http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?NID=637 or google Montgomery county recycling).

Recycling is Required

Municipal and state regulations require that residents, commercial establishments and non-residential establishments recycle all recyclable materials.  Commonly recycled materials include:

• Paper – newspaper, office/copy paper, glossy paper, color paper, cardboard, junk mail, phone books, magazines, regular and junk mail, cereal/cracker boxes
• Plastic – bottles and containers No. 1-7
• Glass – clear, green and brown containers
• Metal – aluminum, steel, tin, and bimetal cans and containers

You should check with your hauler for a complete list of accepted recyclable materials.