Round 2 glasses are recyclable, unlike most drinking glasses which are destined for a long life at the landfill.
A broken drinking glass one night and ensuing ramble on recycling lead to my discovery of the term upcycling. Having an interest in reducing my household waste footprint I was intrigued.
I learnt... container glass (bottles and jars) is a near perfect material to recycle, it can go through the process endlessly without a loss in quality or purity. Compared to creating a product from scratch, recycling reduces emissions and the consumption of raw materials making it an extremely beneficial and eco-friendly process, but there is still a cost in terms of energy consumption and resources to collect, sort and process.
Most drinking glasses are a no go for the recycling bin. They have different melting points and can contain additional materials that require specialised machinery to remove. They usually end up in the rubbish wrapped in newspaper, destined for a long life at the landfill.
So... I decided to try upcycling empty bottles and create glasses from this recyclable material. After some time researching cutting and finishing, I have something I am very proud of.
They make excellent gifts and look amazing in the cupboard and more importantly spectacular on the table.
From Wikipedia: “Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.”
Most recycling is considered ‘downcycling’. Downcycling is the recycling process of a material into a material of lesser quality. For example: plastic can be recycled but the result is a lower grade plastic.
Using the word ‘upcycling’ in regards to container glass is a loose term when you consider its ability to be perpetually recycled. However, when transformed into a drinking glass it replaces a non-recyclable household item with one that can while delaying the recycling process.