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There are two main types of contamination in cullet,
the wrong colour of glass (eg green in a load of white/flint
glass) and a wide range of contaminants such as ceramics,
stones, metals, wood, needles and syringes and non-container
glass.
Three levels of contaminants are stated as below:
- Unacceptable contaminants
Any medical or chemical refuse, needles and syringes;
bottles and jars containing any liquid or solid hazardous
or toxic material, coal or coal dust.
- Critical contaminants
Ceramics such as crockery or earthenware, Pyrex cookware, Visionware glass
saucepans, inorganic materials such as bricks, concrete, gravel, stones
etc and non-container glass such as flat glass, laboratory ware, light
bulbs and tubes.
- Hazards
All non-magnetic metals, particularly aluminium and lead. Wire, strapping,
wood, plastics, textiles and materials.
Colour Specification
There are three main colours of glass: clear,
also known as white or flint; green and brown,
also known as amber. Different glass collectors
specify different degrees of colour separation
in container glass. In recent years some companies
have developed high-tech colour sorting equipment
in order to combat contamination by other colours.
Some collectors will also take mixed glass as
well as colour separated.
There is no common standard for cullet. Two
collection companies' specifications are shown
below.
British Glass Recycling Company (BGRC)
Only colour separated glass from white
flint (clear), amber (brown) and green empty
bottles and jars is acceptable. Blue glass can
be recycled with green but when concentrations
in green are above 5%, suppliers are asked to
contact the BGRC.
Maximum degree of cross-colour
contamination permissible:
| Cullet
type |
White
flint (clear) |
Amber
(brown) |
Green |
| Permitted
contaminant |
Amber
(brown) 2% |
Other
colours 5% |
Other
colours 5% (exc blue) |
Berryman
Cullet should consist of container glass only.
Glass should not be deliberately crushed and
bottles should be kept as whole as possible.
If a load has contamination levels greater than
in the guidelines below, it may be reclassified
as mixed for use in alternative markets.
Maximum degree of cross-colour
contamination permissible
in colour separated glass:
| Cullet
type |
White
flint (clear) |
Amber
(brown) |
Green |
| Permitted
contaminant |
Amber
(brown) 2%, green 2% |
Other
colours 20% |
Other
colours 20% (exc blue) |
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