The Adventures of Captain Cullet!

I thought you might enjoy this cartoon. haha.

For the past several months, we've been hoarding glass. Admittedly, it's mostly beer bottles. Anyone who knows us knows that we're budding beer snobs...but that's beside the point!

The point is that today we recycled all of those glass bottles and the glass bottles from various other things. Since our apartment doesn't have recycling for glass, we actually had to drive the glass to the city recycling center. I think that people assume that this is really inconvenient and that's why many people don't recycle. And, I have to say that I also thought it would be inconvenient, but it actually wasn't. It was shockingly easy. We spent about 2 minutes loading the glass in the car, and about 1 minute unloading it at the center. Then, we went out for coffee. Easy. You should try it. You'll like it. Recycling, not the coffee. Although, the coffee was a fabulous experience, too.

In the future, I'm going to try to buy as many items as possible in glass packaging instead of plastic. Unlike plastic, which can generally be recycled only once, glass can be recycled and remolded infinitely. Also, there's a big market for recycled glass whose demand is not currently being met. Only 28% of glass is currently recycled. When not recycled, glass can take 4000 years to break down on its own. In short, there really isn't a reason not to recycle glass. If you think of one, let me know.

Other recycling options for beer bottles

Be aware that procedures for recycling windshield glass or glassware are different than those for recycling food and beverage bottles. Food and beverage bottles can definitely be picked up curbside or taken to a recycling center. However, other types of glass may require a bit of research to recycle.

Here's a shorter video: