How to Recycle Glass by Throwing It Away
Next time you see someone tossing a beer bottle into the ocean – cheer him on.
While it’s always better to recycle, this is a rare instance where thoughtlessness usually results in something good. The bottle fragments will be tumbled and pounded in the surf until their edges are smoothed and their surface becomes milky. Glass is unreactive (hence glass test-tubes) and the restless sea will eventually reduce it to unusually beautiful sand.
But some of it will end up above the shoreline – and that’s where we come in. I spent many childhood hours collecting beach glass, rubbing it with a wet thumb to make the colors come alive. Thousands of people sharing my fascination make up the North American Sea Glass Association – and amongst them, artisans like By The Bay Treasures, East Coast Sea Glass Design and many others. (I’m particularly under the spell of glass beads, the way they click in Komboloi).
So keep taking your bottles out for recycling – but if any are particularly brightly colored, throw them in the sea instead. You’re helping the oldest tradition of recycling stay alive.
Our continuing love-affair with recycled glass:
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The Glass is GreenerRecycled Glassware Round-UpGlass Not Dismissed!(Recycled) Green With EnvyRecycled Glass: A Beautiful (2000 Year Old) TraditionSmart Glass Jewelry by Kathleen PlateWhat Happens to a Broken Windshield?
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5 Comments
August 20th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I totally love sea glass too! It has to start somewhere! But, uh, until it actually smoothes down, there’s the risk of spiky bits in your feet in the sand… I know you’re being tongue in cheek, but I’d hate for someone to take this seriously and start tossing wine bottles around the beach!!! But alas… I do love sea glass!!
August 20th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Thanks, Sarah. Agreed – the best thing to do if you’re a true sea-glassophiliac would be to buy one of those tumbling machines that polish stones, break up your bottle, and tumble the pieces for a while to remove the edges. Another way round it might be for sea glass enthusiasts to collect bags and bags of it, and then charter a boat and scatter it around a good distance offshore – so by the time it reaches the beach, it’s all safely blunt…?
August 20th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
haha, funny stuff. I really hope people don’t take this advice too seriously.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Thanks so much for mentioning our sea glass jewelry and gift business – East Coast Sea Glass Design, in your article. Much luck sea glass collecting everyone! Daphne
January 4th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I work for an autoglass company and I tried to open your recycle windshield option because I am interested and couldnt open it. Please send it to me.
Thanks
Cathy
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