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What to do with glass waste? Come to Laugfs
A Colombo that is unpolluted and garbage free is something we all envision, but do not know how to achieve. In a step towards making this a reality, the residents of Colombo along with the Sri Lanka Chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) have launched a programme to recycle glass.

Large bins have now been located outside Laugfs Supermarkets around Colombo, where people can dump their redundant glass, including broken glass, when they come to do their shopping. The bins will clearly be labelled for glass of different colours, namely, green, brown and white. Anything other than glass should not be put into the bins.

Recycling glass is one way that we can reduce pollution and waste. Of the tons of rubbish that we throw away everyday, a large percentage happens to be glass. This accumulates in landfills, becoming a threat to safety and the environment.

Despite many initiatives taken by concerned groups and individuals, recycling is still a fairly new concept in our society. Many of us do not think twice about throwing all our garbage, waste matter, glass and all, into polythene bags and leaving the municipality to deal with it. Glass thus discarded contributes to the breeding of disease - carrying mosquitoes. The fact is that the simple step of sorting garbage and recycling matter will directly affect our energy costs as well as create a healthier environment.

Compared to making glass out of raw materials for the first time, recycling glass takes up less energy. This reduces the Glass Company’s use of power, which in turn reduces the national use of power, and therefore, the individual’s energy cost. It has been estimated that every glass bottle recycled saves just about enough energy to light a 15w energy efficient light bulb for 24 hours. There is also a saving of raw materials used.

PATA has always been involved in projects to conserve the environment, and the Environmental Subcommittee of the PATA Sri Lankan Chapter, headed by Shamali Devaz and Nirmala de Mel have initiated this venture to bring about a positive change in the way we look at recycling and its benefits.

Ravi Dahanayake, General Manager of Laugfs says that they are proud to be a part of this pilot project with PATA. He feels they will be doing a service to their consumers in that they will have some place to put their disused glass as well as playing a significant role in conservation.

So, the next time you drop a bottle on the floor-don’t throw away the pieces! Wrap it up for your next trip to the nearest supermarket.

Send your cullet glass to us : Ceylon Glass Company
The Ceylon Glass Company in keeping with the National Strategy for Solid Waste Management, has spent Rs. 15 million on technical renovations so that they now can accept an unlimited quantity of cullet (waste glass) to manufacture glass.

At present they use about 55 % of cullet in production. Cullet melts at a lower temperature; therefore, less energy in the form of electricity and fuel is used in production. A greater proportion of cullet used in glass production means less virgin materials, such as Silica Sand and Dolomite. This leads to a saving of natural resources as well as less spent on importing high cost materials such as soda ash.

It is also possible to manufacture glass purely from cullet, without raw materials, if the company could get access to the massive quantity that is accumulating in landfills and elsewhere. By encouraging the general public to hand in their discarded glass for recycling, the company feels that they will be fulfilling a social responsibility of removing a hazard from society.

Currently, the company uses about 800 metric tons of cullet a month in the production process and intends to increase this amount to 2000 metric tons.
B.G. Ariyadasa, Logistics Controller at CGC, says, “The CGC has launched a programme to receive a larger amount of cullet, and invites everybody in Sri Lanka to contribute to this process by sending in their cullet to us.”

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