Councils throughout Bracknell have been making it easier than ever to recycle glass in their new mixed glass banks across Bracknell and Wokingham

550 re3 banks have rolled out mixed glass recycling meaning that coloured glass bottles and jars needn’t be separated.

This optimises collection schedules, reduces carbon footprints and makes glass recycling quicker for residents.

The initiative begun before Christmas and so far has been a big success.

A council spokesman said: “10,000 tonnes of glass had already been collected the previous year- a 40% increase. And the residents recycling efforts had avoided massive pollution in the environment as every 1,000 tonnes saved 345 KWH of power, 314 tonnes of CO2.

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“It also saved 1,200 tonnes of raw materials making glass from scratch as recycled glass can be endlessly reprocessed in the circular economy, creating many jobs.”

Another benefit of the new mixed recycling scheame is that it has been saving 1,000 tonnes land fill space and charges to the council.

The new re3 bottle bins can be identified by the signs that are posted on them.

Blue, Green, Brown, Amber and clear glass can be deposited in any available bank which is sorted by new high-tech processing at new URM glass plants to sort mixed colours. This means that they can be sent into new bottle and jar making.

Although technically classed as glass, the council have reminded residents that window and mirror glass, and sheet glass cannot be accepted in the new mixed bottle banks. This also includes Perspex and china which are not compatible and may contaminate them.

Recycled glass is said to reduce energy prices by 40% compared to manufacturing glass from scratch and greatly lessens pollution impact on the environment.

To get recycling more have a look at the RE3s Councils websites in each council area or take a look at letsrecycle.com to see how recycling is processed.

In a joint statement, Cllr Mrs Dorothy Hayes MBE, Bracknell Forest Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Chairman of the Joint Waste Disposal Board, Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Neighbourhoods & Communities and Cllr Parry Batth, Wokingham Borough Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Leisure, said: “Glass can be endlessly recycled without any loss of quality and the most popular approach is to remelt it to produce more bottles and jars – the true meaning of closed-loop recycling.

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"We are fortunate to be able to send glass bottles and jars to this impressive facility, which uses advanced equipment and technology, so there is no need for the public to colour segregate their glass anymore.

"Mixed glass recycling is going to be of great benefit to the public and re3 Councils. It makes recycling glass much quicker and easier and it should improve the efficiency of collecting the material, meaning we will no longer see one bank full to overflowing and another next to it partly empty.

"We also hope to see a reduction in the public leaving their glass on the floor next to the glass banks due to one particular colour bank being full.”