Inside Colorado’s First Bottle-to-Bottle Glass Recycling Plant

Hover over each number to see all the steps of the glass recycling process.

Incoming Waste Glass Storage

• Almost all comes from single stream recycling

• Some source-separated and window glass

Infeed Hopper

• Holds 5 tons

• Feeds at an average of 15 tons per hour

• Feeder speed automatically adjusts

Overbelt Magnet

• Pulls out ferrous metals

• Ejects into collection bin

• All collected metals are sent out for recycling

Large Contamination Removal

• Separates bulky non-glass items from glass

• Examples include cardboard, wood, plastic lids, etc

Roll Crusher

• Reduces larger glass items to a size that can be optically sorted

• Examples include whole bottles and bottoms of Champagne bottles

Eddy Current Separator

• Uses electric current to eject non-ferrous metals

• Examples include aluminum cans, copper wire, stainless steel

• All ejected items are collected and sent for recycling

Breezer

• Forced air ﬂows against the stream to remove light fraction ﬁber contamination

• Examples include shredded paper, soda straws, and paper labels

Long Parts Separator

• Separates and removes long, skinny

• Common examples include pens, pencils, toothbrushes, and plastic cutlery

Primary Dryer

• Hot air (190º F) is forced through a bed of glass

• Sugars and bacteria are eliminated, paper labels are loosened, and other ﬁbers are ﬂuﬀed up for easier removal

• Residue ﬂoats to the top and is sucked out via vacuum

De-labeler

• Label material is rubbed oﬀ of the glass particles via high-wear resistant paddles

• Glass particles are compressed together and rubbed against each other, abrading the labels while minimizing breakage

Vibratory Splitter

• Our optical sorters can only sort glass particles 3/8” and larger

• This splitter separates sortable particles (+3/8”) from unsortable particles (-3/8”)

Optical Sorters

•• We use the most advanced sorting technology available

• 10 Clarity brand sorters remove contamination and sort glass by color down to 3/8”

• Clarity sorters use optical sensors and compressed air jets to detect and separate particles

• Two primary sorters load- balance the ﬂow of glass

Finished Product Storage (Amber, Green, Flint)

• Color sorted, clean cullet is now ready for use in new bottle manufacturing

• Can be introduced directly into the furnaces for true bottle-to-bottle recycling!

Vibratory Splitter: Mediums/Fines

• Medium sized particles (less than 3/8”) are separated from Fine particles (less than 1/8”)

• Mediums are further decontaminated for use in bottle manufacturing

• Fines are processed and used as industrial abrasives, water ﬁlter media, or in ﬁberglass insulation

Optical Contamination Removal (Mediums)

• These Clarity sorters cannot sort by color, but can sort contamination out, down to 1/8”

• This also includes any metals that managed to survive the ferrous magnets and the Eddy Current Separator

Fines Infeed Hopper

• Particles smaller than 1/8” are stockpiled, and then batch-processed together when quantities reach suﬃcient levels

• This “ﬁnes” processing stage starts with this infeed hopper

Primary Rotary Screen

• Dried and cleaned glass is screened to cull out speciﬁc sizes

• Screens can be quickly changed to produce diﬀerent size grades for diﬀerent customers

• For example, ﬁberglass manufacturing requires all particles to be 12 mesh or smaller

Vertical Shaft Impact Crusher

• Glass too big for the primary screen is sent through the crusher

• A rotor crushes large pieces into sand-sized particles

• Particles recirculate until they ﬁt through the screen

Secondary Rotary Screen

• Particles that are small enough to pass through the primary screen are then processed through the secondary screen

• Particles are separated into diﬀerent size grades, depending on the future use. Common size grades include:

– 12 mesh to 20 mesh

– 20 mesh to 40 mesh

– 40 mesh to 70 mesh

– 70 mesh and smaller

Supersack Filling Station for Fines

• The diﬀerent size grades are collected in large, pallet-sized woven bags, known as “supersacks”

• Once full, each supersack is tagged with an inventory label, indicating size grade, production date, weight, and lot number

• A full supersack typically weighs about 3,000 lbs

Bagging Machine for Fines

• Some customers prefer to buy ﬁnes in smaller bags

• This bagging machine, known as a “valve packer,” uses compressed air to transfer market-ready ﬁnes from supersacks into 50 lb paper bags

• Bags are stacked on pallets using a rotating loader to prevent injury

Cyclone

• All paper and other contamination sucked out via the vacuum system is separated from the air stream in the cyclone

• Solid contaminants extracted from the fast-moving air drop into a waste bin

Dust Collectors

• Air from the cyclone still contains plenty of dust

• The dust collectors use hundreds of vertically-oriented sock ﬁlters to separate this ﬁne dust from the vacuum air

• The dust is then returned to the plant, where it is bagged and sold