Glass is mostly made up of sand, lime and potassium carbonate. It takes more than 5000 years for glass to disintegrate, and this is best seen in the glass jewellery from Ancient Greece and Egypt. However, there is an positive aspect to glass, since it can be infinitely recycled without losing any of its characteristics nor reduction of its quality.

Compared to production of new glass from raw materials, recycling glass saves energy and decreases pollution. In the production of new glass raw materials are heated to 1400 degrees Celsius, while in the recycling process glass is crushed into smaller pieces that are melted at lower temperatures. Recycling decreases energy consumption by 40%, air pollution by 20% and water consumption by 50%. With every ton of glass that is recycled, over a ton of raw materials, otherwise needed for producing new glass is saved.

The type of glass that is recycled varies from country to country. Mostly it is clear, green and brown glass that is recycable, including glass jars. It is not possible to recycle mirrors, non-transparent glass and ceramics.

If you wish to recycle glass, it is necessary to rinse the bottle or jar and remove lids and caps that cannot be recycled.  In Belgrade it is not very common to find recycling bins for glass, since its considered not very profitable as metal, plastic or paper. We are recycling glass close to Nebojsina Kula, where you can also find bins for PET and MET.

You will find the locations for recycling plastic, metal and paper in Belgrade here.