THE CYCLE OF GLASS
From a ‘Raw’ cullet, i.e. a waste product mainly coming from separate waste collection to a ‘Ready-to-Bake’ cullet, i.e. a Secondary Raw Material used by glasshouses to replace natural raw materials (natural sand, soda ash, etc.).
Reduction in the use of natural raw materials
for the production of glass packaging, mainly silica sands and soda ash, with a consequent reduction in the environmental impacts of exploiting the relevant quarries.
In 2022, glass recycling reduced the use of traditional raw materials (sand, soda ash, carbonates, etc.) by more than 4.2 million tonnes. A quantity that would occupy twice the volume of the Colosseum.
Significant reduction in energy consumption in the glasshouses
in particular, thanks to the use of MPS, the melting temperatures required to obtain glass packaging are reduced.
In 2022, the recycling of glass enabled direct and indirect energy savings of 436 million m3 of methane, equivalent to the domestic consumption of more than 260,000 Italian families, the equivalent to the needs of a city of 1.5 million inhabitants, larger.
Reducing CO2 emissions
from glasshouses in melting furnaces.
In 2022, glass recycling avoided the emission into the atmosphere of about 2.5 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the emissions of about 1.5 million Euro 6 cars circulating for one year, with an average mileage of 15,000km.
WHAT ARE THE GLASS
TREATMENT PROCESSES?
Quando la materia prima arriva nello stabilimento VETRECO subisce una trasformazione che comprende quattro processi ben distinti e ciascuno di essi è fondamentale per preparare un prodotto “Pronto Forno” di ottima qualità.
The coarse scrap put in reserve R13 in a yard is taken up with mechanical shovels to feed the hoppers of the Pre-sorting plant.In this plant, through two manual sorting steps and by means of special machines, an initial selection of the raw scrap takes place, with the elimination of bulkier materials: ferrous and non-ferrous metal packaging, mixed materials (plastics, paper and cardboard, ceramics, etc.).
The main process steps are:
Separation and removal of ferrous metal packaging
Manual sorting (removal of mixed and bulky materials)
Removal of light mixed materials
Removal of non-ferrous metal packaging (cans)
Size reduction < 50 mm
The semi-finished product coming out of this plant, called pre-sorted, goes to feed the next sorting plant, or is stored on the ground waiting to be processed later.
In this fully automatic plant, using state-of-the-art machines, including optical sorting machines, the material is transformed into MPS Ready to Bake, sorted by colour:
The main process steps are:
> Ferrous metal sorting and removal
> Non-ferrous metal sorting and removal
> Possible drying
> Labels removal
> Screening and glass removal < 5 mm (to be sent to the next Washing and Grinding stage)
> Optical selection for removal of the following pollutants
• Plastics
• Metals
• Crystal (glass containing Pb) + Ceramic containing Pb
• Glass ceramic
• Infusibles (ceramic, stone, pozzolan, etc.)
> Optical selection for colour separation:
• Green
• Amber
• Transparent (Flint)
THE MATERIAL BALANCE
OF VETRECO PLANT IN SUPINO?
For every 100 t of raw scrap sent for treatment in the year 2022, the following were produced:
- Approx 75 t di MPS Ready to Furnace, separated by colour
- Approx 13 t di MPS Glass Sand
- About 2 t of waste, sent for recovery at specialised plants..
In particular:
- Ferrous packaging is delivered to the supply chain consortium (Ricrea)
- Non-ferrous packaging is delivered to the sector consortium (Cial) and other plants for subsequent recovery.
- Glass dust is delivered to specific plants for recovery.
- Approximately nine tonnes of waste were disposed of in landfills..
Therefore,for every 100 tonnes of raw scrap sent for treatment, approximately 89 tonnes of MPSMPS were produced in the year 2022..
Only nine tonnes of waste were disposed of in landfills..
