Glass Facts


  • Approximately 30 billion glass containers are produced in the USA each year
  • Virgin glass is made from sand, soda ash, limestone and limited amounts of recycled glass called cullet
  • Approximately 11 million tons of glass containers are discarded as municipal solid waste each year
  • Glass is endlessly recyclable
  • Only 3 million tons of glass are recycled each year while the remaining 8 million tons are sent to landfills at a cost of almost $300 million a year to the taxpayer
  • Recycled glass, or cullet, is highly desirable and valuable material for use in manufacture of glass because:
  1. It costs less than virgin raw material
  2. It melts at a lower temperature
  3. It reduces air pollutants released during the manufacturing process
  • Container glass furnaces are designed to continually produce large quantities of glass over a period of more than 20 years.  These furnaces range in output from 150 tons of glass per day to over 600 tons per day


Amber bottle comes off production line during GMG test melt

