About
Benefits of Cleanaway’s
glass recycling services
Our glass recycling solutions are designed to help you manage glass waste responsibly and keep valuable material recirculating in the circular economy.
Glass is one of most sustainable materials to recover as it’s 100% recyclable and can be endlessly reused without losing quality. Cleanaway works with councils, businesses and manufacturers to recover glass waste like bottles, jars and offcuts and turn them back into new products. This reduces landfill and keeps these valuable materials in circulation.
We partner with councils across Australia and can collect glass in standalone glass bins from businesses.
Glass bottles and jars
Includes clear, green, and brown glass bottles and jars that are empty, clean, and free from lids or caps, ready for recycling.
Mixed glass packaging
Covers other glass packaging such as condiment jars, sauce bottles, and glass containers with minor non-glass components that can be removed during processing.
Details
Environmental benefits of recycling glass
Conserves resources
Making products from recycled glass removes the need for raw materials like sand and water.
Saves energy
Using recycled glass can reduce energy use by up to 75% compared with producing new glass from raw materials.
Reduces landfill
Recycling diverts glass from landfill, extending landfill life and reducing environmental impact.
Builds a circular economy
Recycling glass enables glass to be part of the circular economy and reused for new products.
Process
What we do with your glass waste
Glass is collected from commingled bins and separated from other recyclables at Material Recovery Facilities using machinery and manual sorting.
Service
Glass recycling bins
We offer a complete range of glass bin sizes and types to suit the glass collection needs of councils and commercial customers. We typically provide council residents with a 120L or 240L wheelie bin to collect their commingled recycling (including glass bottles and jars) or separated glass waste or separated glass recycling bins for LGA's who have introduced dedicated glass recycling kerbside services.
For businesses like retailers, hospitality venues and manufacturers, we offer both commingled recycling and dedicated glass recycling bins. We provide wheelie bins in a range of sizes for lower volume waste producers through to larger capacity bins or steel bins for handling medium to large volumes of waste.
For information about the glass waste we can collect and recycle from larger industrial and construction projects, see our skips and construction page.
120 litre wheelie bin
240 litre wheelie bin
660 litre wheelie bin
1100 litre wheelie bin
1.5 cubic metre steel bin
3.0 cubic metre steel bin
4.5 cubic metre steel bin
6.0 cubic metre steel bin
Output
What your glass waste becomes
Glass bottles and jars are high-quality recyclables that don’t degrade over time, so they’re perfect for being remelted into new beverage containers and food packaging. This closed-loop recycling system means we can keep reusing glass bottles and jars over and over.
Glass waste that can’t be turned into new containers is crushed into fine materials that can be used as a substitute for sand. This process is called crushed glass recycling. This lower-grade glass material can be used in a number of ways, including as a base for roads and walking paths, in landfill rehabilitation and in industrial uses like abrasive grit blasting. Crushed glass recycling reduces our reliance on natural resources like sand and allows us to recover traditionally unrecyclable glass waste streams that would otherwise go to landfill.
Our promise
Why choose Cleanaway
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A one-stop solution
We offer an expansive range of services, custom waste solutions and expert support to meet the waste management and resource recovery needs of Australian businesses, councils and industries of any size.
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Optimised waste management solutions
Our team of resource recovery professionals work closely with you to find the best waste management solution for your business, helping you achieve potential cost savings while working towards your sustainability goals.
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Streamlined services
We offer a total waste management solution, providing you with seamless customer service, one invoice and consistent, reliable services.
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Nationwide service you can count on
With a vast national network of specialised facilities and one of the largest waste collection fleets on Australian roads, we deliver efficient and reliable service across most of Australia.