Glass

Disposal location: URM UK Ltd Port of Tilbury, Tilbury Freeport, Tilbury, Essex, RM18 7EH 

Recorra delivers mixed glass to URM UK, whose processing plant is located so close to our facility that we tip the material directly from our vehicles, minimising costs and greenhouse gas emissions from transport.  

Here, bottles are crushed into a cullet and sorted to remove contaminants such as bottle caps and paper. It is then scanned to detect the various colour and shades of glass. The glass is separated into three main colours: clear, brown, and green. It is then supplied to manufacturers who make new bottles and jars from the finished, high-quality cullet.  

Under the Simpler Recycling legislation, all businesses with more than 10 employees in the UK must have separate glass recycling collections. As of 2027, mandatory glass recycling will expand to include all businesses regardless of size. 

Read more about Simpler Recycling here.

Glass is infinitely recyclable, meaning it can be reused endlessly without losing quality – the perfect circular economy material. 

At Recorra, we understand the importance of glass recycling. The process of producing virgin glass is ‘energy and resource expensive’, with its global carbon footprint in 2022 estimated at 95 million metric tonnes, the same amount of carbon emitted from powering over 12.7 million homes in a single year.  

Did you know:  

• Per tonne of glass recycled, the equivalent of a flight from the UK to New York – around 580-590kg of CO2 – is saved from entering the atmosphere. 
•  Recycling just one glass bottle saves enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for four hours 
• Glass produced from recycled glass reduces related air pollution by up to 20% and related water pollution by up to 50% 

For customers using wheeled bins, it’s essential plastic sacks are not put into bins as this contaminates the glass collections. As we tip glass directly with our glass recycling partner, it cannot be contaminated with any other material, including plastic sacks. Our glass is recycled back into glass bottles rather than being crushed for aggregate, so it needs to be free of contaminants. It is dangerous for our staff to pick sacks from glass collections due to the risk of injury from sharp shards. 

Practical steps can be taken to avoid the need for sacks. If space is restricted, you can use small containers that don’t require lining, like slim bins or glass crates. These are designed for tight spaces and can be safely transferred into a 240L wheeled bin without need for using sacks. If space is not an issue, you can hire additional bins to ensure staff put glass straight into the bin for collection rather than using sacks.