Why is glass collected?
Glass is a gift from our nature and a perfect textbook example of recycling as well.
Glass is virtually infinitely recyclable and it conserves all its physical or chemical properties. It is therefore reasonable to collect glass and reuse it to produce some new socially wanted and recyclable container glass which has the same properties as if it was made of primary natural raw materials.

Why is it necessary to put used glass into bottle banks?
Due to repeated effective utilization of container glass it is essential to put all used glass containers into bottle banks labelled GLASS at public glass waste collection points. Different kinds of waste thrown into bottle banks depreciate this potencial material and for this reason the glass intended to be recycled must be deposited at solid waste dumps.

What happens with collected glass?
Collected glass is delivered to recycling companies. There is only one recycling company in Slovakia - company VETROPACK NEMŠOVÁ s.r.o.
It is inevitable to prepare all transported glass waste before using it in technological processses. Glass is monitored for purity and all contaminants are removed. After that cullets are crushed, sieved and added in a proper amount and proportion to main batches of raw material mix in a melting furnace to produce a new glass packaging.

What is the sense of collecting glass?
Collecting glass containers and its repeated utilizing in the process of production - recycling - we can decrease consumption of energy and natural raw materials which contributes to cleaner environment and that is a great benefit to all of us.
The process of collecting, sorting and recycling of waste also creates new job opportunities.

What does not belong to bottle banks?
There are many different kinds of waste that do not belong to collecting containers labelled GLASS - bottle banks such as: plastics, ceramics, construction waste, rubber, ovenproof glass, TV screens, PC monitors, wire glass, carglass, glassceramics i.e. hot plates, illuminants a.s.o.

Why to sort glass waste into colorless (clear) glass and colored (green) glass?
When sorting glass according to its color original glass is used significantly more effectively which contributes to the protection of the environment.
Colorless glass (wrongly known as „white glass") can be used to produce both colorless and colored (green) glass.
Colored (green) glass can be used only to produce colored (green) glass. For this reason colorless (clear) glass is highly-valued and it is at an advantaged price in comparison to colored (green) waste glass or mixed glass of all colors.

Why can glass from electronics not be mixed in container glass?
Glass used in electronics, e.g. TV screens, PC monitors, has its distinctive structure to reach effective eye protection of users against X-radiation and the impact of fast electrons. The protective effect of glass is achieved after addition of heavy metals (strontium, barium, lead). These elements are undesirable in the production of container glass and therefore especially TV screens or PC monitors do not belong to bottle banks.

Does the company VETROPACK process carglass?
The activities of processing, preparation as well as sorting of carglass are provided by companies which are specialized in carglass.
When sorting such glass it is a matter of disconnection of safety foils from the glass. The end-product of this process is a glass granulation product which VETROPACK is able to process technologically.

What is the proportion of glass in household waste?
According to various sources there are on average 8-12% of glass in household waste in Slovakia. It is the potencial for better sorting of household waste.

What is the decomposition of glass in solid waste dumps like?
Glass deposited in solid waste dumps or freely thrown in nature will practically never be decomposed (> 4000 years). Therefore it is essential to collect, sort and recycle glass.
In case of decomposition of glass there would arise the same natural materials which glass was originally made of i.e. sand, limestone and dolomite.