December is the month of cosiness, elaborate cooking, long dinners, toasts with bubbles. But that also means walking to the bottle bank more often. Because all those empty bottles, pasta sauce jars and pickle jars obviously have to go somewhere. But especially in this festive season, bottle bank doubts strike many people. Because what can and cannot go in the bottle bank? Our survey shows that there is still a lot of confusion about this. Time to be clear about it.
Misunderstandings about the bottle bank
They also notice it at glass recyclers: considerably more cullet ends up in the bin in December. Logical, because we cook more, drink more and party more. A good sign? Absolutely, because then more can be recycled. But that's also where things often go wrong. An Instagram poll among our followers* shows that 66% think a broken wine glass should just go in the glass bin and 62% think the same about a broken oven dish. That's not right. Why not? Because this is not packaging glass. Drinking glasses and oven dishes are made of a different kind of glass, which melts at much higher temperatures. If that accidentally ends up among the right cullet, you disrupt the recycling process. It is difficult to detect, looks remarkably like ordinary glass and also prevents good glass from being recycled. What a waste!
Only packaging glass is allowed in the bottle bank
Let's get the rules straight, because it's actually quite simple. In the bottle bank, only packaging glass. These are glass jars and bottles that have held food or drinks, such as wine bottles, pasta sauce jars, pickle jars and olive oil bottles. Have you always wondered why the opening of the bottle bank has such a perfect round shape? Then now you have your answer: only packaging glass! And no, you don't need to clean those glass containers. Labels, caps, lids, corks and even leftover food? No problem. That is simply taken out during sorting. What is NOT in may: drinking glasses, oven dishes, baubles, teacups, mirrors and materials similar to glass, such as ceramics or porcelain. These belong in the residual waste. Or - if they are still in one piece - take them to the charity shop. In doubt? Check the website waste separation guide.nl.
This is important because glass can be recycled endlessly without deteriorating. But this is only possible if the cullet is all from the same container glass. Want to know how that goes, we followed the recycling journey of our packaging glass! The better we separate our glass at home, the smoother and more energy-efficient the process is. And that saves a lot of raw materials and CO2 emissions. Small effort, big difference!
More holiday tips
- Also see: Giving second-hand gifts is how you do it (wrapping tips).
- Also see: cool ideas for a zero waste Christmas table.
- Also see: Pimping up old baubles with a rope.
*Circa 3,600 respondents cast their votes via Instagram Story polls. Photo credits: Alesiakozik (casserole) & Cottonbro (champagne), Pexels.
