Businesses that produce glass waste can strongly benefit from recycling the glass rather than leaving the bottles whole and having them collected by a waste management company.
Recycling glass saves businesses money, space and time on a day-to-day basis. Glass waste is often placed in a 140 litre wheelie bin as a whole bottle, which may not seem like a big deal but once multiple bottles are in the bin, space becomes an issue and the bin will be full in no time.
A full glass bin can be problematic as it becomes heavy to manoeuvre and bottles can even fall out and smash on the ground, which becomes a health and safety hazard as well as a nuisance to clean up. By recycling the glass, bin collections will reduce dramatically. Depending on how much waste glass a business produces, one or more bins could even be removed from the waste area.
A Glass Crusher Machine is the best way to recycle waste glass. There is a variety of different sized glass crushers to suit the needs of businesses, depending on the quantities of glass. With a large glass crusher, one 140 litre bin can fit beneath it so all crushed glass slides straight into the bin.
When the bin is at a safe capacity, there will be around 680 crushed bottles inside, which is five times more than there would be if the bottles were still whole. It may take one week for a bin to fill up with whole bottles so with the glass crushed, this collection could be reduced to a monthly collection. This means approximately 52 collections, gets reduced to 12 collections, which is a superb money saver. The large glass crusher can be situated inside or outside, for efficient disposal.
There is then the smaller glass crusher for recycling glass, which is built to fit under the bar counters of pubs, restaurants and nightclubs. This is an extremely convenient machine as bar staff can carry on serving while disposing of the waste glass bottles.
With this machine a blue tray is placed in the bottom of the crusher, so all glass empties into the tray. Around 90 crushed bottles can fill the tray before it needs to be emptied into a wheelie bin. Again this machine reduces glass bottle volumes 5:1, saving a considerable amount of money on glass bin collections.
A great deal of time can be saved with any recycling machine but glass recycling in particular is ultra-convenient. Without a glass crusher, more constant trips to the bin area would be required, which distracts staff from doing their jobs properly. For pubs, restaurants and nightclubs it’s also better for customers who will receive better service from staff who are more likely to be available behind the bar waiting to serve drinks.
Depending on the amount of glass being produced, space can be saved with the removal of bins. A hotel and spa in Kent had 12 wheelie bins all being used to contain empty glass bottles before installing a small glass crusher. Bin quantities were reduced by a third here, which saved on space in the waste area and generally made the hotel look tidier. The glass crusher was situated in the kitchen area as well so kitchen and waiting staff didn’t have to walk outside constantly to dispose of glass anymore.
By recycling glass, the end product turns into tiny sharp free pieces of glass, which are safe to handle. Smashed bottles are often very dangerous and can easily cause cuts on the skin. Another glass recycling machine is the glass imploder, which breaks down glass even further into an almost sand like material. For some, this material is then a useful raw material for creating products such as jewellery.
One particular hotel in Cornwall uses a glass implored to fill large sacks, which is then given to two local businesses that use the glass for making jewellery and to mix with a resin compund for roof repairs. The sacks have replaced bins as well, so the hotel is saving money and helping the local community. Crushed glass can also be reused by other businesses, including road repairs.
All glass recycling machines are sound proofed as well, so when the bottles are crushed or imploded they make little noise. Compare this with tipping a bin full of whole bottles into a truck and you get an almighty crashing sound. Even dropping multiple bottles into a bin makes a loud smashing noise. Customers won’t have to endure loud noises and staff with sensitive hearing will benefit from this as well.
Publish your content with EB Premium
It's not about how many you reach. It's about who. Get your news, events, jobs and thought leadership seen by those who matter to you.
