Re: recycled glass
> Citation welcome.
It's not too hard to find some citations...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling
To be honest, I'd guess that using recycled glass as an aggregate is popular because it's the lowest-cost way to reuse the glass, and there isn't a need to separate out the different colours.
There's also this interesting quote about the UK in particular:
The waste recycling industry in the UK cannot consume all of the recycled container glass that will become available over the coming years, mainly due to the colour imbalance between that which is manufactured and that which is consumed. The UK imports much more green glass in the form of wine bottles than it uses, leading to a surplus amount for recycling.
Equally, a lot of people don't really seem to pay much more than lip service to recycling. E.g. the communal bins at the flats where I live are basically split into three groups: glass/metal/plastic, cardboard and other.
And while I know there's increasing amounts of automation in the recycling process, I suspect the efficiencies involved in splitting out things from a mixed lump of glass, plastic and metal is going to be low. Especially since you've also got to consider the various colours of glass, the many grades of plastic, etc, etc.
Similarly, I was mildly bemused to see that Yazoo milk drinks come in a recyclable plastic bottle which is fully sheathed in a non-recyclable plastic label. So they expect you to cut the entire sheath off before consigning the bottle for recycling.
I'd be genuinely surprised if more than 10% of the people drinking from those bottles even realise that they're meant to do this...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
