DAY 4 Zero Waste Challenge: Reusing Glass Jars
We can use glass jars to preserve or store food at home.This is just the tip of the ice-berg of course, here you can see a larger list of uses for glass jars. For now we concentrate on using them as food containers. Before we start the challenge let's go through a few facts about glass. This way we'll have a better understanding on how important is to make the transition from plastic containers to glass jars.
Facts about Glass:
- Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss in quality or purity. Something few food and beverage packaging options can claim.
- Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss in quality and purity.
- Recycled glass can be substituted for up to 95% of raw material.
- The container and fiberglass industries collectively purchase 3.35 million tons of recycled glass annually, which is remelted and repurposed for use in the production of new containers and fiberglass products. (Sources: Precision Consulting, NAIMA)
- Over a ton of natural resources are saved for every ton of glass recycled.
- Energy costs drop about 2-3% for every 10% cullet used in the manufacturing process
- In 2015, 41.9% of beer and soft drink bottles were recovered for recycling, according to the U.S. EPA. Another 27.5% of wine and liquor bottles and 15.1% of food and other glass jars were recycled. In total, 33.2% of all glass containers were recycled.
- Recycling 1,000 tons of glass creates slightly over 8 jobs. (Source: 2011 Container Recycling Institute)
- Glass is made from readily-available domestic materials, such as sand, soda ash, limestone and “cullet,” the industry term for furnace-ready recycled glass.
Challenge:
You can use any jars you have left from buying pickles or tomato sauce.
- Try to make a healthy lunch for your work or kids school meal and put them in a jar.
- You have pasta or condiments sitting in plastic condiments ? Change them for glass jars. This way they will stay fresh for a longer period, and the taste won't be damaged as it is from the plastic.
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