I shared in my last post about how difficult it has been finding someone or someplace that takes old window glass. Not just takes old window glass, but recycles old window glass. As you can see below, replacing all the windows in a small ranch house means quite a stack of old windows.
After a few days of searching the internet for a company nearby and making a few dozen phone calls, I think I found one.
Dlubak Glass Company of Ohio. Their website boasts about how many types of glass they recycle and sell as cullet, or crushed glass, to manufacturers all over the United States. The best part? Their Ohio facility is just over an hour from me, located in Upper Sandusky. I called them late last week to ask about how to go about bringing old windows in. Although they informed me they don’t pay very much per pound for window glass, they do accept it. They just asked that I remove the glass from each window sash.
It will probably be a few weeks yet until I take a Saturday morning drive with a van full of glass, but I will sleep much better at night knowing that I saved that much waste from the landfill. I am first going to try to give the windows away on FreeCycle or Craigslist, but most of them are in such horrible condition that I can’t imagine anyone would want them.
In this whole search process, I was disappointed how many area municipal recycling services plainly told me that window glass could not be recycled. Wrong. It can be, just not by that county’s facility. I am thinking of calling each recycling center back and informing them that they are wrong and that in the future they should recommend Dlubak Glass. Not that every DIY enthusiast is as recycle-happy (crazy?) as I am, but it disturbs me to think of how many people might choose to recycle their old windows but were plainly told it can’t be done.
Now for some as-promised statistics on glass recycling.
- Glass never “wears out.” It can be recycled indefinitely.
- Using 50% recycled glass means cutting the amount of raw materials created through mining waste by 75%.
- Using recycled glass uses only about 68 – 75% as much energy as producing new glass.
Up and Adam [Ries] 