Swedish Glass Recycling (Svensk GlasÅtervinning AB, SGÅ) was founded in 1986 for the collection and recycling of used and graded glass containers. In 1994, the Swedish Parliament passed a law on producer liability for packaging. The law decrees a recycling target of 70% for glass containers. This target was reached in 1996. Today, the recovery rate is more than 90%.
From the outset, SGÅ’s recycling of glass containers has developed favourably, as the table below shows:
| Year |
Collected |
|
Recycled |
| 1987 |
22 000 ton |
|
17 % |
| 1990 |
49 800 ton |
|
38 % |
| 1992 |
75 700 ton |
|
58 % |
| 1994 |
94 200 ton |
|
56 % |
| 1996 |
119 600 ton |
|
72 % |
| 1998 |
143 100 ton |
|
84 % |
| 2000 |
143 800 ton |
|
86 % |
| 2002 |
149 000 ton |
|
84 % |
| 2003 |
151 200 ton |
|
92 % |
| 2006 |
158 700 ton |
|
92 % |
| 2008 |
174 100 ton |
|
94 % |
| 2009 |
178 100 ton |
|
90 % |
Aims
The most important goal today is not to increase the rate of recovery but to improve efficiency throughout the recycling chain, from consumer behaviour to process engineering.
Initially, SGÅ concentrated principally on informing the public and the media in order to promote a general awareness about glass recycling. Today, the public is judged to be very well informed and information efforts have largely been switched to the country's schools with the aim of developing sound behaviours patterns among the consumers of tomorrow.
Collection points
The glass ecocycle is based on a well-developed collection system involving some 7,000 recycling stations. Along with a high degree of public awareness and motivation, accessibility is the decisive factor for the achievement of a good recycling rate.
The reprocessing plant
All glass collected in Sweden is transported to the SGÅ works in Hammar in southern Närke, the only reprocessing plant for recycled glass in the country. Demographically, Närke is in the middle of Sweden, i.e. as many people live north of it as live south.
All collected glass goes through a number of manual and mechanical controls to grade out pollutants and foreign matter. Recycled glass must have a high degree of purity if it is to be successfully turned into new glass raw material. The glass is crushed into different orders of magnitude depending on what it is to be used for.
Areas of use
The manufacture of new glass containers is the chief area of use for recycled glass, even if other areas are becoming increasingly important. Over 60% of all recycled glass returns in the form of new containers. Today, Scandinavian glassworks use 40% recycled glass in their production of flint glass, 50% in brown glass and as much as 90% in green glass.
Glass wool is another important area of use for recycled glass. About 1/3 of all collected glass now turns into glass wool at industries in Scandinavia. The wool contains 80% recycled glass.
Lightweight Foamglass from the neighbour company Hasopor in Hammar, is another exampel of products processed from recycled glass. Foamglass are widely used in the building and construction industry for isolation and geotechnical solutions.
In addition, SGÅ has conducted a number of research projects in collaboration with universities and trade institutes to discover further areas of use for recycled glass.
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