Morley Glass Hits 1,000tonne Glass Recycling Milestone
Morley Glass has saved over 1,000tonne of post-consumer glass from going to landfill in just two years, and instead diverted it into the production of new glass in a scheme that has provided funding of more than £60,000 for environmental and community schemes in West Yorkshire.
In 2020, the company invested in reducing its process waste and providing a post-consumer glass recycling service to installers by commissioning machinery that could crush waste. This can be fed directly into the manufacture of new glass which not only reduces landfill waste cuts the volumes of virgin raw materials needed and saves energy as turning cullet into new glass requires less energy.
The scheme, which is run in conjunction with Saint-Gobain Glass, is continuously audited to see exactly how much waste glass is being collected and the benefits it is delivering.
The data shows a saving of around 325,000kg of CO2, every tonne of glass cullet prevents 300kg going into the atmosphere. The overall energy saving to Saint-Gobain Glass is calculated at 541 ‘energy years’ – that is the energy used by an average UK household in 12 months.
In addition to saving resources and energy, the recycling scheme has another important benefit for communities in West Yorkshire. All the money raised by the sale of the recycled glass cullet to Saint-Gobain Glass goes into a fund that we set up called GreenVision. This offers £500 one-off grants to charities, individuals and community groups who are located in West Yorkshire and dedicated to providing environmental or social improvements in their local area.
