Glass Statistics
Get a sense of how much glass we use and waste we produce as individuals and businesses with these important glass facts and stats. They help drive home how reducing glass usage and wastage even a little bit can help make a big difference. Here are some crystal-clear glass waste facts:
- About 130 million tonnes of glass are produced around the world every year
- Around five million tonnes of glass are used in the UK annually
- In the UK we recycle around 76.5% of all used glass
- Recycling one tonne of glass saves around 385,000 tons of CO2 emissions
- The glass industry recycles around 27 million metric tons worldwide each year
- If a glass bottle ends up in landfill it could take up to one million years to degrade
- 1,350 glassworks with more than 2,500 glass furnaces operate today
- The biggest glass furnace produces more than a million glass bottles and jars daily
- The earliest examples of glass created by humans are from around 4,000 years ago by craftsmen in Mesopotamia