Does it really matter if we mix up the colour of bottles when recycling them?

Question

Although we are always asked to seperate the bottles in to different colours when recycling, does it realy matter if we mix them up, and if so why?

Answer 1

If your council asks you to separate the colours, yes it does matter. It means they will be sending the glass to a reprocessor who will be making more glass bottles and jars and not to one that will just crush the glass to make aggregate or other material (where the colour doesn't usually matter much - though I've seen paving made with flashes of blue glass). The bottles and jars you buy every day (beer, cider, jam, etc) are likely to be made out of 90% or more recycled glass, and only clear glass can be used to make new clear glass, so its more valuable than the other colours. Clear can also be added to the mix to make any other coloured glass.
Using recycled glass in the mix when making new bottles hugely reduces the amount of raw materials that have to be dug from the ground and the glass can be melted down and reused time after time without any loss of quality.

Answer 2

I think it does matter as it affects the quality of the glass when it is recycled. Many councils now collect mixed glass and this is used within the aggregate industry (for use on roads). But recycling plants prefer segregated glass to make new glass bottles ec...

Answer 3

Yes it does, in processing the glass for recycling it takes five times longer, therefore five times the power to separate the glass into the diferent coloured components

Answer 4

It's not the end of the world if they are mixed up. At least we are making an effort to recycle. anyway, sometimes the green ones look brownish and vice versa!

Answer 5

if they are mixed when they are crushed does that mean we will have stained glass bottles and glasses to drink from
i quess it does matter then we can stick to plain colours or not what ever it is i think stained glasses would be cool

Answer 6

yes it does matter clear bottles can be reused to make the likes of milk bottles coloured glass con not so they use that for other things

Answer 7

our council doesnt ask for them to be separated, in fact they only give us 2 bins for recycling, one for paper and card and the other for glass. there's no where for plastics or metals

Answer 8

Yes. It reduces the value of the clear glass.

Answer 9

Yes the shop gets charged if we mix them up.

Answer 10

I don't think so because 99% of your recyled glass gets shipped to india and china and gets dumped in their landfill sites. Oh you dont believe me! get yourself over to liverpool docks and you will see the containers being loaded