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- Glass makes up about 9% of all the rubbish we throw away.
- Glass bottles were originally made by hand-blowing them into different shapes. They have only been made by machines for the last hundred years or so.
- The largest furnaces used to make glass can produce more than 400 tonnes of glass a day – that’s more than one million bottles and jars each day!
- One bottle bank can hold up to 3,000 bottles before it needs to be emptied.
- Glass bottles were originally made by hand-blowing them into different shapes. They have only been made by machines for the last hundred years or so.
- On average, every family in the UK consumes around 500 glass bottles and jars every year – at the moment we recycle about 25% of these items.
- Bottle banks appeared for the first time in the UK in 1977. There are now over 22,000 glass bottle banks around the nation.
- Around 2 million tonnes of glass is produced each year in the UK. (There are approximately 3000 bottles and jars in a tonne.)
- The largest furnaces used to make glass can produce more than 400 tonnes of glass a day – that’s more than one million bottles and jars each day!
- The average glass bottle contains over 25% recycled glass.
- Green glass bottles made in the UK contain at least 60%, and sometimes as much as 90%, recycled glass.
- Glass bottles are up to 30% lighter today than they were ten years ago – this saves energy and raw materials.