January/February 1992
At the recent Glass Roundtable, the experts predicted growth in cullet consumption, steadier prices, and continuing public policy pressure for glass recycling.
By Thomas A. Hemphill
Thomas A. Hemphill is associate market analyst for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (Washington, D.C.).
The final destination: millions of shiny new glass bottles rolling off the assembly line at a pace of several hundred a minute. Those who arrived early for Scrap Processing and Recycling's first-ever Glass Roundtable, held in Chicago in November, had a chance to see where their efforts are headed by touring a glass container manufacturing facility operated by Anchor Glass Container (Gurney, Ill).
The plant has five production lines, three churning out clear ("flint") bottles and two making green glass. All told, the facility produces approximately 100 million containers annually. According to Anchor's furnace manager, Tom Remington, 90 percent of the raw material consumed by the green production lines is scrap glass; about 10 percent is cullet generated within the plant and the balance is postconsumer material. All of the cullet must be "furnace-ready" and meet strict quality-control standards to be accepted at the facility, he noted.
Anchor's flint lines currently use about 20 percent cullet, half of which is generated internally, but the firm plans to boost this recycled-content level to match that of its green glass.
Growing Demand
The 79 domestic plants of the glass container industry provide the largest and highest-value market for cullet, said roundtable speaker Roger D. Hecht, president of Bassichis Co. (Cleveland), which processes approximately 500,000 tons of cullet annually—reportedly making it the largest cullet processor in the United States. Hecht said glass makers keep in mind four key factors when buying cullet: volume, price, type, and quality. "It is our obligation as a recycler to maximize quality," he said, adding that processors may find it useful—if not mandatory as more cullet is used per batch and quality demands rise as a result—to move into new technologies such equipment employing rare-earth magnets and nonferrous metal detectors in order to reduce contaminants.
The glass container industry used approximately 2.5 million tons of "non-plant-generated" cullet in 1991, Hecht reported. Fran Mazenko, regional manager of public affairs/recycling for Owens-Brockway (Godfrey, Ill.), who also spoke at the meeting, said that consumption figure represents a 50-percent growth rate over the past two years.
Hecht called 1992 "the year of the glass container," predicting cullet consumption would grow by 25 percent during the year, provided supply, price, and quality factors remain favorable. Based on reports from container manufacturers, projected cullet availability and prices, the benefits cullet use gives glass makers (extended furnace life, energy savings due to lower temperature requirements, and lowered emission of pollution), and consumers' attention to recycled content while shopping, usage will continue to grow an additional 25 percent in 1993 and 1994, he predicted.
Hecht suggested that 1992 will see cullet values "relatively stable, with less price gyrations" than in the recent past. Average 1992 prices should fall in the $50-to-$55-per-ton range, he said, down slightly from 1991's $55 to $60. These prices reflect a relatively higher value for flint, typically $60 to $70, with amber and green cullet prices pulling the average down, reported Hecht. He noted that regional prices will vary based on local supply and demand.
Savings in Wear and Tear
Using cullet in the manufacture of glass containers lowers maintenance costs and saves energy, according to Mazenko of Owens-Brockway, who provided a mill's perspective to roundtable participants. "From a manufacturing standpoint, cullet usage can save wear and tear on furnaces, resulting in savings on maintenance, because cullet can be melted down and reformed at a lower temperature than it takes to combine the virgin materials from which glass is made."
Owens-Brockway makes glass containers with an average recycled-content of 30 percent, Mazenko said, adding, "The only material we use more of is sand." The glass container makers as a group plan to achieve an average recycled-content of 50 percent in their products within 3 to 5 years, he noted.
Although almost any type of glass container is acceptable for recycling, cullet destined for glass mills must meet certain specifications just like any other industrial raw material, he reported. Contaminants such as metal caps, ceramics, stones, and crystal cause problems because they do not melt at the temperature levels used to make container glass.
Touching on the problem of green cullet gluts, he noted that only about 13 percent of the glass containers produced annually in the United States are made of green glass, while 23 percent of the used glass bottles available domestically are green—largely because of imported beer and wine bottles.
Mazenko also mentioned another color problem: new cobalt glass containers from Canada, which have troubled some recyclers. He said that Owens-Brockway is using blue glass as a feedstock in making its green bottles.
Processing Technology
Frank DeNapoli, a Ph.D. candidate in mineral economics at Pennsylvania State University (College Park, Pa.), described modern systems used in "beneficiation," or processing, of cullet at the session. He noted that current technology allows processors to remove magnetic and nonmagnetic metals, such as aluminum caps and neck rings, paper and plastic labels, and other items. DeNapoli said, however, that "unexpected" contaminants—those not generally associated with container glass, such as nonmetallic refractory particles like ceramics, rocks, and soil—may not be effectively removed by today's separation systems.
The Asphalt Alternative
Using glass in asphalt translates into a "significant" savings over landfill disposal costs for the material, Pat Monan, recycling coordinator for the city of Syracuse, N.Y., told roundtable listeners, noting that the city saved nearly $20,000 in landfill tipping fees (at approximately $97 per ton) in 1991. "Glasphalt" also makes an "effective road surfacing material," he added.
Syracuse used about 2,000 tons of mixed cullet processed to less than 3/8 inch as a binder in new asphalt last year, Monan reported, making up 10 percent of the road-surfacing material with scrap glass. The city plans to increase its mix rate to 20 percent in 1992, he noted, which will enable Syracuse to consume approximately 6,000 to 8,000 tons of mixed cullet in the process.
Public Policy Prompts
The most important public-policy trends concerning glass recycling are taking place at the state level, reported roundtable speaker Jerry Powell, editor-in-chief of Resource Recycling (Portland, Ore.). State recycled-content legislation is the leading current recycling policy issue, he said, noting as an example a new California law that requires producers of fiberglass building insulation to include 30-percent recycled glass, while nationally most fiberglass makers use 5-percent cullet or less. Powell suggested that public policy will also direct increasing amounts of cullet used into asphalt production.
Powell also predicted that states will expand tax-credit programs to encourage use of secondary material in the manufacture of new glass containers as well as other products. Other market-development efforts, such as grants and loan programs, will be relied upon less by the states, he said, because of nationwide budget crunches. •
At the recent Glass Roundtable, the experts predicted growth in cullet consumption, steadier prices, and continuing public policy pressure for glass recycling.