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       Recycling Products News spoke to Pierre-André Mongeon, glass recycling solutions expert at Machinex and a key member of the Glass Recycling Consortium (GRC), to gain insight into the pricing of the waste glass market. We take a closer look at the dynamics and factors driving the waste glass market, as well as the nature of waste glass as a recyclable commodity. Read on to learn more.
       Pierre-André Mongeon: Demand and quality are the two main factors. Demand for clean cullet (recycled ground glass) and finely ground glass for insulation and sandblasting remains high. Glass manufacturers are often desperate to find clean cullet, as they only use 33% recycled glass, while the actual utilization rate can be as high as 95%.
       The degree of contamination of glass is a key factor influencing its price. Glass that is 80 percent pure can sell for $35 to $50 per ton as landfill lining. Glass that is 95 percent pure sells in some markets for $0 to $10 per ton. Glass that is finely ground to 99.8 percent pure and further processed can sell in the market for $70 to $100 per ton. In Canada and the United States, highly pure, color-sorted cullet sells for $60 to $80 (with a difference in shipping costs per ton of $5 to $20 depending on distance).
       PAM: During the transition to single-stream recycling between 1997 and 2017, glass quality was severely impacted by mixed recycling streams. In many single-stream recycling systems, trucks compact the mixed material and dump it onto a concrete floor where it is rolled by forklifts and milling machines.
       To remove glass from the flow as quickly as possible, disc screens are used to crush and sift the glass from the container lines. During this process, the glass is mixed with organic matter, ceramics, paper fragments and other small items smaller than 50 mm. About 20-30% of the glass is contaminated. So instead of making money from the glass, many recycling companies have to spend money on its disposal.
       We adopted a two-stream system back in the early 1980s. We put paper and cardboard in one bin, and containers and unbroken glass in another. By separating the sources, glass is easier to sort, and “clean” glass from MRFs has more value.
       These days, most of us recycle (about 90% of Canadians participate in a recycling program), and most of us use one container (single-stream recycling). Single-stream recycling is used to save on transportation costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This recycling method, designed to make it easier for people to participate, has resulted in an increase in recycling of more than 20%, while overall recycling has decreased by more than 12%.
       PAM: Over the last 50 years, glass bottle production has declined by about 50% as PET and aluminum cans have taken over the majority of the container market. The glass bottle is also about 40% lighter than its predecessor.
       Despite this, the use of cullet in glass manufacturing has grown steadily, from about 22% in 1988 to over 33% in 2012. Bottle laws passed in many US states in the 1970s encouraged glass manufacturers to use cullet. Today, the industry fully understands that using cullet allows furnaces to operate at lower temperatures, thereby extending furnace life, reducing costs and reducing chimney emissions. We also know that every 10% of cullet used in the production of new bottles reduces energy requirements by 3%, and recycled glass can replace up to 95% of raw materials.
       Natural resources used in glass production include sand, limestone, and soda ash. Although these resources are abundant in North America, their geographical dispersion results in high transportation costs for purchasing these raw materials. Therefore, using recycled glass to make new glass helps save oil and gas.
       Today, in the United States, 2.4 million tons of recycled glass are used each year to make new bottles and jars, with about 60 percent of that recycled glass going into new containers or being reused.
       PAM: Over the past two decades, the glass container industry has experienced consolidation and capacity reduction as glass containers have lost market share to aluminum cans, PET, and other plastics. Three companies—Owens-Brockway, Gallo Glass, and Saint-Gobain Glass—account for about 90% of U.S. glass container demand (9.36 million tons, or 60.6 pounds per person per year). In 2010, the U.S. produced about 25 million glass bottles, of which nearly 75% were beer bottles and the rest were mostly food containers.
       It is noteworthy that in 1967, there were 40 container glass manufacturers in the United States, producing glass at 112 plants in 27 states. Currently, 17 companies operate 54 plants in 27 states.
       PAM: There has been significant growth in the glass insulation equipment, abrasives and other emerging markets in recent years. Other secondary markets include road construction, where it is used both for road surfacing, where it is known as “glass asphalt,” and for road bases, where it is known as aggregate. Recycled glass can also be used as aggregate for storm drain systems and blind ditches, in the fiberglass industry, as glass beads for reflective paints, and in abrasives, foam glass and other building materials.
       Although Canada has not officially approved the use of sand as a road surface, the market price of sand in some U.S. counties is about $0 per metric ton. But because sand is cheap and has many uses, it remains the preferred choice for many cities.
       Glass powder is used for sidewalks in Plessisville, Quebec, where Machinex is headquartered, as well as Victoriaville and Montreal. It improves the durability of concrete while reducing its environmental impact.
       VERROX is a long-awaited cement additive with great market potential in the recycled glass sector. Its unique pozzolanic properties are due to its high content of amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO2).
       PAM: Looking ahead, further cleaning of glass (increasing purity from 80% to over 90%) will be the most cost-effective way to improve the market situation. The Machinex pre-cleaning system is inexpensive to install and can easily achieve purity levels in excess of 90%. Machinex has recently developed several advanced glass cleaning solutions in collaboration with its partner Krysteline, resulting in a marketable product with purity levels of up to 99%.
       Glass manufacturers will benefit from a preference for cleaner glass. The same goes for recyclers.