Recycling - Critical for Glass Containers to Be Competitive

Glass, along with newspaper and aluminum, has the longest history of recycling used and discarded containers into new containers. In fact, beverage glass is 100 percent recyclable with no reduction in quality or purity. Almost 25 percent of the beverage glass in the United States is recycled.

Consumers Recycling Glass

Recycled Bottles to be Sorted

Recycling is critical if glass manufacturers are going to compete effectively against aluminum and plastic containers.  This makes sense from an environmental standpoint and economic standpoint for the following reasons:

• For every ton of glass recycled, a ton of other resources are saved.
• One ton of carbon dioxide emissions are saved for each six tons of glass recycled.
• Glass manufacturers benefit from recycling by reducing emissions, extending the life of furnaces, and reducing energy costs.

Recycled Beverage Bottles

State governments also have a role in promoting recycling glass. States with deposits on beverage containers have a 63 percent glass recycling rate while non-deposit states average only 24 percent. In 2011, 34.2 percent of all glass containers were recycled.

Glass Recycling Factory

The above diagram shows how bottles and jars are recycled and used in manufacturing new glass. Cullet glass and bottles are first sent to the crusher and through the cullet mill. This turns the glass into a powder that is sifted and sent to the mixing machine. The mixing machine mixes the recycled glass and other ingredients in the proper proportions and sends them to the ovens or baking machine where the glass is melted and poured into moulds to form bottles.

  

Bottles and Jars Made from Recycled Glass

Although glass manufacturers have been able to reduce the weight of glass containers by fifty percent, they are still heavier than similar aluminum and plastic products. Recycling is the key factor if glass containers are going to compete effectively against aluminum and plastic. Because plastic is made from petroleum, there are geopolitical reasons for using glass instead of plastic. It is better for the environment, for our balance of payments, and creates more jobs domestically.

Research Questions

• Are all glass products 100 percent recyclable as beverage glass containers?
• Why does it take less energy to recycle glass than it does to make it from the raw ingredients?
• If states with container deposit laws have a 63 percent recycling rate, why don't the others with a 24 percent recycling rate pass similar laws?   

References

http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/glass.htm

http://www.gpi.org/recycling/glass-recycling-facts

Glass - High Tech in Every Era

From the Stone Age

 

Volcanic Glass

                 

To the Computer Age

Windows that Generate Electricity

In every historical period glass has been a material that was and still is a crucial part of the technology of the period. The obsidian pictured above was an important technology for many Stone Age societies. Because it is created when lava cools too quickly for minerals to form, volcanic glass or obsidian is found only where there was volcanic activity. The cutting edge of obsidian was an important part of Stone Age technology that is still used on some surgical instruments today.

Roman Glass Vase

The use and production of glass during the Roman Empire was primarily for containers. The invention of the blowpipe in Syria made the production of glass much faster and easier. Glass containers were an important technological change for the safe storage and shipment of food and wine in the period. Many of the containers used prior to this contained metal, like lead, that reacted with the food and drink in them. Glass containers were a technological leap forward in food safety and in the storage and shipping of food and beverages.

Medieval Clear Glass

During the period from 1,000 AD to 1,700 AD, the techniques to produce glass allowed for flat glass to be produced. Led by the Venetians, flat glass for windows included most colors of the visible spectrum as well as clear glass. The production of clear, flat glass was important because it offered windows in architecture that let light in but kept the weather out. It also produced the beautiful stained glass windows in cathedrals and churches that are the defining characteristics of those structures.

                       

Medieval Stained Glass Window

In the modern computer age, glass continues to be a part of and crucial to the newest technological innovations. Fiber optics, as pictured below, are probably the best known use of glass in the electronics industry. The optical characteristics of glass fibers allow light to be transmitted from one end of an optical cable to the other with minimal transmission loss and no interference.

Fiber Optic Cable

But glass has consistently been at the forefront of technological innovation and it continues in that manner today. The latest glass innovation is a flexible glass that comes from the Corning Glass Company. Willow Glass , shown below, enables displays for curved surfaces, for thin, light electronic devices, and also offers high temperature tolerances.

Flexible Willow Glass

The above photo shows the most astounding property of flexibility that Willow Glass offers. The photo below shows how those characteristics will be applied in consumer electronic products.

Flexible Display on a Tablet Computer 

Glass is an amazing material that has changed over time and has been at the forefront of technological change in every historical period. From obsidian to Willow Glass, it continues to change to meet what is needed as human society evolves. Interestingly, since the Stone Age, glass has not been directly weaponized, unlike most other materials.

Research Questions

• How has obsidian been used historically and why is it still used today?
• How has research and development changed glass over time?
• How is glass likely to change in the near future?   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

U.S. Glass Industry Snapshot in 2002

Glass Bottles in Production 

The glass industry in the United States is a major sector in the U.S. economy that is undergoing some fundamental changes. To better understand these changes, it is important to know the structure of the glass industry even if the information is ten years old. The charts below show the glass industry in 2002.

2002 Glass Statistics

The glass industry was fueled by oil in the 1970's and was hit very hard by the tenfold increase in oil prices. This forced glass companies to switch to natural gas to fuel their glass production. As a result, many companies ceased production rather than invest in the new equipment. As the chart above shows, energy is a major component of the cost in the production of glass. New environmental regulations required companies to invest in equipment and procedures to meet the regulations. Despite the increased foreign competition, some glass companies were able to compete with increased efficiency and new manufacturing methods.

2002 Statistics

Flat glass or float glass, as it is called because of the manufacturing process, is produced for the construction and automotive industry. In fact, 80 percent of the flat glass market in the U.S. goes to those two markets, as the above chart shows. This business has faced increased competition from foreign competitors with cheaper labor costs. The number of flat glass manufacturers has been reduced to four.

2002 Statistics

Container glass is another sector of the glass industry that has serious problems in addition to the increase in oil prices. Increased competition from foreign competitors with cheaper labor costs has reduced the number of U.S. manufacturers significantly. Competition from other materials like plastics and lightweight metals has also reduced the container market share enjoyed by glass. Many products like milk, soft drinks, beer, and food products. As we have discovered on this trip, many glass firms in the industrial market like container glass, have gone out of business.          

Fiberglass Insulation

                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Fiberglass is an important category in the glass industry that is actually further divided into two segments, insulation and textile fibers. Fiberglass, like flat glass, is subject to the the economic cycles of the construction and automobile industry. Unlike flat glass, fiberglass has little foreign competition because the binders that hold the fibers together cannot be compressed for shipment.

Fiberglass Stadium Structure

The last major category in the glass industry is a diverse segment called specialty glass. This can include cookware, optical glass, stained glass, laboratory glass, flat screen displays, and LCD panels.

Specialty Glass Panels

Stained Glass

The specialty glass segment now outperforms the other segments of the industry. Specialty glass requires more investment in research than other glass segments because of rapid changes in the market. The most profitable products today did not exist ten years ago, particularly in the high-tech electronics industry.


Research Questions

• What pollution problems did environmental regulations address in the 1970's?
• How much recycled glass is used in each segment of the glass industry?  
• How has energy efficiency changed in the glass industry from 1970 to now?

References

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/manufacturing/resources/glass/pdfs/glass2002roadmap.pdf

Automotive Ceramics

Spark Plug

Spark Plug

Spark plugs were first used in 1860 in the first gasoline internal combustion engine and continue to be the source of combustion in gasoline, hydrogen, methane, and alcohol fueled cars. Porcelain has long been the insulating material used on spark plugs, and so ceramic materials have been used in cars for the last one hundred years. But the use of ceramics in modern cars has extended beyond just insulating spark plugs.

Pressure Sensor

Emissions Sensor

Vehicle builders have increasingly turned to ceramics to replace metals because of their strength and thermal and electrical properties. Ceramic sensors work better than metal sensors in harsh environments because they are chemically, thermally, and structurally more stable. The use of ceramics in sensors and spark plugs has been standard practice among auto manufacturers for many years. In today's car, ceramics are being used in other systems as well.

Ceramic Ball Bearing  

Cutout Showing Ceramic Ball Bearings 

Ceramic ball bearings have many of the same advantages over metal bearings as sensors. Those advantages are smoother surfaces, lower thermal expansion, and much lighter weight. Other engine parts are being made of ceramics or are being coated with layers of ceramic material. Pistons are now being coated with ceramics to reduce friction and prolong engine life. The reduction in friction also means an increase in efficiency because less energy is lost to heat.

Ceramic-coated Pistons

                                        

Ceramic Rings and Ceramic-coated Piston

Ceramics are now used in more applications than dinnerware and bathroom fixtures. The wide range of properties that ceramic materials offer increases the possible applications in many areas of modern technology.

Questions to Research 

• Can ceramics replace metals in cutting tools like knives and scissors?
• What disadvantages do ceramic ball bearings and pistons have compared to metal.
• Are there environmental concerns in the production of ceramic materials?

Ceramics Through Time

Ceramics by definition are inorganic solid, nonmetallic substances made by the action of heating and cooling. Ceramics are found in everything from toilets to car spark plugs to the space shuttle. The class of materials includes glass, bricks, tiles, and pottery. Ceramic pottery are among the oldest man-made objects found.

Prehistoric Pottery Shards

Prehistoric Pottery

Prehistoric Pottery

The oldest prehistoric pottery discovered was created 26,000 years ago according to radio carbon dating. Early man discovered that mixing mammoth fat with bone, bone ash, and loess could be molded and dried in the sun to produce a fragile, heat-resistant material. Thus was born an early form of ceramic art. Around 6,000 BC, the ancient Greeks discovered that firing the soft clay produced a stronger pot they used for storage and burials.

Ancient Greek Pottery

Ancient Greek Pottery

                                                                                                                                               The next step in the development of ceramics was a precursor to glass called faience developed and used extensively by the ancient Egyptians around 4,000 BC. This material was the first known use of a glaze that can be seen on the objects pictured below.

Ancient Egyptian Jewelry

Egyptian Faience Figure

Porcelain, consisting of kaolin clay, glazing, and heating to 1,200 degrees Celsius, was discovered by the Chinese circa 600 AD. The high temperatures make porcelain very tough and very strong. As the pictures below indicate, porcelain can also be a beautiful medium for artistic expression.

Early Chinese Vase

Early Chine Vase

The next important advance was the development of refractory ceramics in 1870. This ceramic material could withstand very high temperatures and was used to make building bricks and bricks to line kilns and steel ovens. This was an important technology that advanced the industrial revolution.

Kiln Bricks

Replacing Bricks in Kiln

The broad definition of ceramics includes glass, china, porcelain, bricks, and dinnerware. The importance of this material in all our lives cannot be overstated.

Questions to Research

1. In what ways have you used a ceramic material today?

2. How would your life change if your access to ceramics was suddenly cut off?

3. How are ceramics used in the aerospace industries?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Day Six - The Pittsburgh Glass Center

The last day of our glass and ceramics quest takes us to the Pittsburgh Glass Center.

Pittsburgh Glass Center (PGC) is dedicated to reviving the glass industry that once rivaled steel as the primary economic engine for Pittsburgh. Just think, the Pittsburgh Steelers could have been the Pittsburgh Glassblowers.

In today's world market economy, the glass producers that were once numerous in and around Pittsburgh have been driven out of business by the low labor costs in China and other developing countries. Glass production in the Ohio River Valley has moved from the industrial mass market to the art market. PGC is facilitating the revival of glass making by by offering classes in hand-blown glass to the general public.

PGC offers individuals the opportunity to produce their own glass products from paperweights to ornaments to pumpkins. They offer classes in hand-blown glass for those interested in learning the craft and demonstrations for schoolchildren to promote the industry. They offer long-term residencies for those interested in seriously producing hand-blown glass as a marketable product. The images below are of works by artists active in the center.

Coral Reef Scene

Octopus Eating a Turtle

Sea Urchin

Layered Glass Vase

After leaving Pittsburgh Glass Center, our intrepid band headed for I-79 and the road to Huntington. After learning that the industrial production of glass has largely moved to other countries with lower labor costs, we discovered the glass industry is still very much alive in the Ohio Valley. It is in the process of transforming itself into a cottage and small factory industry producing high quality fine glass products for the art industry.