
Can Beer Bottles be Recycled?

The answer is a resounding Yes. Beer bottles, just like most glass products, can be recycled many times over for reuse. On their own, the average beer bottle can be used 16 times before it becomes written off for destruction or recycling. This is more than enough time for any brewery to get returns on the initial purchase.
However, there are some certain conditions that are attached to the recycling process. These conditions include the following.
● They should not be broken: Placing broken beer bottles into a recycling bin will only lead to contamination of the other materials in the bin, and this will render them useless.
● They should be cleaned to some level before recycling begins to get rid of any branding or dirt which may affect the integrity of the final product.
● They should be sorted by color since missing them up will also cause problems later on as far as blocking UV light rays from affecting the bottled beer.
Benefits of Recycling Beer Bottles
- Can Beer Bottles be Recycled?
- Benefits of Recycling Beer Bottles
- Saves Energy
- Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Improved Air Quality
- Saves Raw Materials
- Saves Resources
- Less Waste In Landfills
- It Pays
- It is Sustainable
- Limitations of Recycling Beer Bottles
- Not All Glass Is Recyclable
- Creates Unemployment
- High Costs
- Glass is a Contaminant
- How Glass Beer Bottles are Recycled
- Conclusion
Saves Energy

Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Improved Air Quality

Saves Raw Materials

Saves Resources

Less Waste In Landfills

It Pays

It is Sustainable

Limitations of Recycling Beer Bottles
Not All Glass Is Recyclable

Creates Unemployment

High Costs

Glass is a Contaminant

How Glass Beer Bottles are Recycled

There are certain steps that have to be followed when recycling glass to ensure what comes out from the other end is usable and safe. These steps follow a laid down path, each serving a specific role. The following is how glass bottles are recycled.
● Collection: The first step is the collection of glass bottles into recycling bins. These are grouped by colors and type and they should be kept separately from other recyclables. This is because glass is fragile, and if it bumps with other hard metals or with each other too much, they may break. Most recycling companies work with drop-off centers that handle the sorting on their behalf at a fee.
● Inspection: The glass bottles are taken through an inspection phase where important checks are done to access if they are worthy of reuse. This includes checking for cracks, permanent stains, or foreign materials like branding paper that may lead to contamination. The structural integrity of the bottles has to be guaranteed for this to make financial sense.
● Sorting: The next important step is sorting, where the glass bottles are separated according to color and type to limit the chances of contamination and breakages. This is done manually by people, and it is usually handled on a converter belt that passes through a row of people weaning gloves, sorting and getting rid of anything that may have escaped the inspection stage. With beer bottles, the two prominent colors include browns and amber green.
● Breaking: The glass bottles are broken down to size to make the recycling process much easier. This is done by a special machine that has over 20 hammers that come down heavily on the glass to break everything down into dust. This process can be dangerous since the glass dust can go airborne, and this can be bad. To counter this, water is added to the process to keep everything grounded.
● Trommel: The rushed particles are now separated by size in a process called trommeling. This is usually done between 3.4 and 3.8 inches. This is done by passing the broken glass through a trommel that moves through revolving screens. In the trommels. There is a set of fans that get rid of stickers and other impurities. The end product is usually fine glass of the same size.
● Bed Drier Fluidization: The glass particles are passed through a dryer that is set to 190 degrees Celsius to get rid of all the moisture. It is also the process where sugars and bacteria are also eliminated to make everything clean and ready.
● Pulverizer: In this process, the glass particles are broken down further using over 36 hammers. The whole process takes place in an enclosed space to stop from going airborne and being inhaled. Once this is done, the glass dust is taken to the rotary screen, and any particles that will be too big to fit are taken back to the pulverizer, where the hammering is repeated again.
● Recycling: The final stage is where the crushed glass is now transformed back into the complete glass. The glass is melted down, and the process of blowing air into the gobs to create the bottle, which will now be ready for distribution. This process uses heat, but not in high amounts when compared to the original glass-making process. The cullet has a lower melting point, and this makes the process much faster and easy to deal with.
Conclusion
Recycling glass bottles for beer is an important and necessary affair, considering how the demand for beer continues to ride every year. There are many manufacturing plants that are readjusting their processes and restricting their factories to accommodate recycling as more pressure to become sustainable continues to grow. If you are looking to get into the glass bottle manufacturing process and you are not aware of how to start, pay our website a visit to learn more and have all your questions answered.