2014 Volume 25 Issue 3 Pages 194-200
This paper reports on how a recycling system for cosmetic glass bottles was first established and details the present situation and future challenges related to this initiative. Almost all of the glass bottles used for cosmetics are made of soda-lime glass, the same material used in glass bottles for drinks and foods. However, the small amount of heat-resistant glass used in these bottles creates special problems in the recycling process. For this reason, industrial associations concerned with recycling conducted a survey on the amount of heat-resistant glass bottles for cosmetics and did glass-melting experiments on them. At last they agreed to take on recycling of cosmetic glass bottles. Since their recyclability was declared, about half of the municipalities have changed their rules for sorting cosmetic glass bottles, however the number of municipalities agreeing to do so has not increased since that time. One of the reasons for this is thought to be that municipalities do not have enough knowledge on the topic; another reason may be that recyclers believe that the cosmetic glass bottles only create more of a workload for them. This paper proposes that meetings be held in order to share experiences among municipalities, highlighting those that have already changed their sorting rules for glass bottles. It also proposes that cosmetic producers should try to make their products easier to recycle.
