Bottle Glass Manufacturing

During the time when the plastic bottles were not yet popular, factories were producing twice as much glass bottles produced today. Unfortunately, today’s production rate is still so enormous; it greatly contributes to global waste production. Furthermore, the positive effect of minimizing glass bottle production to global waste was negated by the increase of plastic waste. In fact, glass and plastic bottles actually doubled waste production, instead of reducing it.

Glass bottles are more recyclable that plastic bottle. Although there are plastic containers that can be reused several times, constant weathering can cause the dangerous chemical changes in plastic. Deteriorating plastic bottles can release carcinogenic substances into the water. On the other hand glass bottles are highly resistant to effects of liquids, even strong acids, making them safe for long time usage.

Glass bottles are highly reusable because of how they are made. The materials being used and the process they undergo produce a very powerful compound that cannot be decomposed by natural methods. The most commonly manufactured glass is soda-lime glass, which is mainly composed of sodium carbonate with traces of magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide and lime.

These materials are subjected to heat, ranging from 1500-2500 degrees Celsius until they reach what is called a transition state. Other substances like quartz were once added to improve the quality of the bottle glass, but those substances are no longer used because of their high glass transition temperature, which would require greater fuel consumption to heat the furnace. Such consumption would demand recycled bottle glasses instead of continuous manufacturing.

Natural gas and fuel oil is used to generate heat as much as 2500 degrees Celsius. Since the furnace used to make glass has to keep running round the clock, it can easily use up barrels of fuel per day. Putting out the furnace is not practical, as it takes time to generate enough heat to turn the raw materials to glass state again. By using recycled bottle glasses instead of making new ones, fewer furnaces are needed, resulting in less fuel consumption.

Once the heated materials start to harden, they immediately pass through forming, internal treating and annealing. They are formed to different sizes and styles using high thermal resistance machines. After that, they are treated to improve their internal chemical resistance before they finally cool down. Recycled bottle glasses look just the same as these newly manufactured glasses.