CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES POSED BY GLASS WASTE.

History of Glass

The use of glass can be traced back to ancient civilizations. Mesopotamians invented the glass making process about 4000 years ago after discovering that a mixture of sand, lime and soda under the right temperature makes glass. Archaeologists have also discovered glass objects from other ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece and Syria, dating as far back as 1500 BC. Glass became a highly valued commodity, only accessible by wealthy individuals in the society.

The onset of the industrial era brought about many innovations in the manufacturing sector. It became easier and cost effective to produce glass, consequently making glass affordable to everyone. Furthermore, there was a rise in demand for the use of glass as packaging material especially from the food and beverage industry. Consumer behavior also changed as people embraced consumerism without knowledge of the harm they are causing to the environment. In developing countries, the glass industry follows the linear economy, where manufacturers sell to consumers who dispose off the product after use. Finding ways to minimize glass waste is therefore important in cleaning up the environment. It is unfortunate that despite its ability to be re-used and recycled, glass still forms a huge percentage of waste found in landfills and waterbodies.

Uses of glass

Glass has a variety of uses ranging from domestic to industrial uses. It is commonly used to make packaging jars and bottles for drinks, food, beauty products, pharmaceuticals and domestic products such as cups, bowls and plates. The housing industry uses glass to make reinforcement structures and in windows and doors. It is also used in appliances and electronics, transport and automotive among others.

Glass pollution in Kenya urban areas.

The fast expansion of urban industrial activities fuelled by rapid population growth has produced vast amounts of glass waste. More and more glass waste are piling and filling up landfills due to poor waste management. It is not an unusual thing to spot glass bottles and jars dumped carelessly along the roads, foot paths, rivers and other water bodies.

Drivers of glass pollution

1. Preference

Most recyclers prefer clear glass and reject coloured glasses. This has led to accumulation of coloured glass jars and bottles in landfills.

2. Lack of incentives

Some glass recycling machines are quite expensive, thus glass recycling plants require financial support from the government. Lack of enough incentives has led to poor management of glass waste leading to pollution.

3. Lack of bottle return schemes to glass manufactures thus huge amounts of glass waste are left to accumulate in the environment.

4. Consumer education is lacking. There are no appropriate ways to separate and dispose glass material especially at the domestic level in bars.

5. Few companies that recycle glass in Kenya. Glass recycling firms in Kenya include;

·         Kitengela Hot Glass

·         23 Glass Company

·         Milly Glass Work

·         Consol Glass Kenya

These companies have done a good job to reduce glass waste, but have not managed to cover many parts of the country yet.

Glass Upcycling as a solution

If countries are to achieve the zero waste goal, sustainable management of glass waste should also be upheld. There are interesting and sustainable ways to manage glass waste. Upcycling glass bottles into drinking cups, decors and planters are an innovative way to handle and manage glass waste. Up cycling/ re-using makes good use of glass products that would have otherwise been thrown away. The up cycling process is low-tech and has zero emissions thus safe to the environment.

In Kenya, there is a lot of unemployment amongst youths. Using waste as a resource is a way of creating job opportunities for youths from the collection of glass bottles, to up cycling and marketing the end products.

Up cycling glass reduces the amount of glass waste lying on the environment and reduces the space in landfills that would otherwise be taken up by the waste glass bottles.

It is amazing that the alternative to some of the single use products is right before us. Up cycled glass cups are an eco-friendly alternative to single use plastic cups.

It is time for communities globally to view waste as a resource. Therein lies a lot of opportunities that will push us towards achieving sustainable cities.

Challenges of glass upcycling.