The national project is changing the approach to glass processing

Circular Economy: Russian environmental operator restarts solid waste management system. By 2030, the amount of garbage sent to landfills should be reduced by at least half. How is the approach to glass processing changing within the framework of the national project?

Although it is considered a fragile and short-lived material, once in the natural environment, glass will not lose its properties for several centuries. No wonder it was in bottles in ancient times that letters were sealed and sent on a free voyage. Glass does not care about moisture, cold, or even extreme temperatures - ordinary lemonade containers can easily withstand up to 1000 degrees Celsius. When organics, wood, paper, textiles and even plastic decay, all kinds of cans and bottles will continue to litter the planet. Glass has no place in landfills - after all, it is a valuable raw material, by processing which you can get at least a new container.

In Russia, 5 million tons of glass are produced annually, the processing capacity in the country is about 915 thousand tons. However, they are only 30% loaded. That is why it is so important to develop a circular economy, involving in the recycling process both ordinary citizens who sort waste, and new utilizers capable of processing the raw materials received in a quality manner. At the moment, there are about 40 such companies in the country.

"We use cullet in our production - return cullet, which is returned to us, return glass. This is a bottle, somewhere we use window glass, but in limited quantities. Now in our production of recycled materials we use 25-30% of cullet, but we can use up to 80", - says Anton Mor, General Director of Siberian Glass LLC.

In order for glass to be recycled, it must first be collected. And to do it the right way - wash and remove the cover, if any. At the same time, glass containers cannot be sorted into one bag along with lenses, glasses, mirrors, light bulbs, crystal and lids from pots and pans.

But broken glass containers are not a problem for processors: today they can be handed over at various collection points, including Megabak. Having got to the utilizer, the glass is cleaned and prepared for further cooking at one and a half thousand degrees. At each stage, the process is closely monitored by technologists.

“This internal video camera shows what is happening in the furnace. This is a general mnemonic diagram of a glass melting furnace. Gas combustion, temperatures in various sections and various indicators are shown,” demonstrates chief technologist Alexei Nikitin.

Unlike other fractions, glass does not have any technological restrictions that prevent it from being recycled. It's basically endless recycling. But not only this makes glass a unique recyclable material - after all, only one ton of glass containers is equivalent to 700 kilograms of sand, 250 kilograms of limestone and 200 kilograms of soda combined. And just 10% of cullet that is returned to production saves about 3% of energy costs for manufacturers. In general, some pluses.

"In this regard, we can get glass from a broken bottle into a bottle. From a broken bottle, we can also get glass of sufficient quality for use in housing construction, including high-rise housing construction. In this case, we can get glass wool, which is an insulating element, or microballoons from glass , which are used in road markings," says Denis Butsaev, Director General of the Russian Environmental Operator.

There is practically no glass waste left. Glass flour, formed in the process of processing, is sold to manufacturers of foam glass, a high-quality thermal insulation material. Micro glass beads are made from broken sheet glass, which are later used for road marking: they make the marking visible at night, twilight and in bad weather conditions. But that's not all.

“Microglass beads of a very fine fraction from 100 to 300 microns are used in various fields of activity,” says Yury Gorodnichiy, General Director of Microsfera LLC. for sale. This is also the material that is used."

Alas, recycling is not always a more profitable process for manufacturers than the use of primary raw materials. But the mechanism of extended producer responsibility will change this situation. Thus, packaging manufacturers will be required to pay an eco-fee. It will make it possible to compensate for a certain part of the costs of processing, which will ultimately make cullet more attractive for the manufacture of new types of products.

“We very much hope that the updated concept of extended producer responsibility, which is currently prepared by the government, will work. This will significantly help change the monetary motivation of processors, and the most important thing in this regard is to both seriously increase processing volumes and modernize existing production facilities, which, unfortunately, in most cases are at an insufficiently high technological level,” says Denis Butsaev, Director General of the Russian Ecological Operator.

The construction of ecotechnoparks in eight federal districts will also provide significant assistance to the industry. The government allocated more than 9 billion rubles for the creation of their infrastructure. Ecotechnoparks are created within the framework of the federal project "Circular Economy". These unique sites will specialize in deep processing and the production of new goods from recycled materials.

Moreover, resident companies that want to place their facilities in ecotechnoparks will be able to count on financial support from the state - the Russian environmental operator will be able to invest up to 90% of the necessary investments. And the project is popular: more than 30 business representatives have already wanted to become its participants.

Source: https://smotrim.ru/