Glass materials are widely used in the production of beverage containers because they are non-toxic, odorless, beautiful, low in price and abundant. Moreover, the glass containers can be reused for many times, and can even be “reborn” as new glass containers.
According to report of “Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong 2016” issued by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), more than 329 tonnes of waste glass materials are disposed of at landfills every day, of which 243 tonnes or 74% are waste glass bottles.
Composition of MSW disposed of at landfills in 2016 - By major waste type |
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Composition |
Average daily quantity (tonne per day) and percentage shares by weight |
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Domestic waste |
Commercial & industrial waste |
Municipal solid waste |
|
Glass |
157 |
86 |
243 |
Recyclables recovered from MSW in 2016 - By type of recyclable |
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Recyclable type |
Quantity of recovered recyclables (thousand tonnes) |
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|
Exported for recycling |
Recycled locally |
Total recovered for recycling |
Glass(1) |
0.1 (0.0%) |
9.2 (16.4%) |
9.3 (0.5%) |
Note: (1) Glass beverage bottles recovered for reuse through deposit-and-refund system operated by local beverage manufacturers are not included. |
In contrast, in 2016, only 9,300 tonnes of glass materials were collected and recycled, accounting for only 7.7% of waste glass materials disposed of at landfills. This figure indicates that there is still room for improvement in glass recycling.
Quantities and values of exported recyclable materials recovered from MSW in 2016 - By major type of recyclable material |
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Recyclable type |
Quantity (tonnes) |
Value ($ thousand) |
Value per unit ($ / tonne) |
(Glass) Sub-total |
148 |
177 |
1,195 |
In 2016, only 148 tonnes of glass materials were exported for recycling. This indicates that the practice of exporting glass materials for manufacturing of new glass products is still immature.
Glass Sand Storage Capacity: 2,000 tonnes
Glass Cullet Storage Capacity 300 tonnes
Temporary Glass Container Storage Capacity: 200 tonnes
Daily Processing Capacity 100 tonnes/(8 hours)
Our company has spent large amount of investment and continuous Research & Development works in seeking the best glass containers processing system which is suitable for Hong Kong. After repeated testing for two years and processed more than 4,000 tonnes of glass containers, we finally established a glass containers processing system designed by local engineers. This is not only a milestone for the local glass containers recycling industry, but also the system could be adopted by other cities in China and Southeast Asia to facilitate glass containers recycling worldwide.
• Separate and process glass containers into cullet of 4 colors for “reborn” of glass containers overseas
• Process glass containers into qualified glass sand that can be used as construction materials instead of river sand
• Recycle 100% of waste glass containers collected
• High stability to avoid malfunctions
• High efficiency and low wear and tear to minimize operation and maintenance costs
• Easy to carry out maintenance works
• High degree of automation with a centralized control system which is able to record production data
• Safe operation, low noise level, low dust level and low wastewater generation
• Comfortable working environment which meets occupational safety requirements
• Washing of glass containers collection bins – Automated tipping and washing of bins which are safe, clean and reliable
• Wastewater – All wastewater will be diverted to the underground tanks for filtration, purification and reuse, and any excess waste / wastewater will be collected by professional collector
• Water Saving - Use high pressure water jet and sprayer in production line
• Rainwater Collection - Collection of rainwater from roof for factory floor cleaning, dust suppression and temperature reduction
• Planting trees around the factory to provide a better working environment
The facility offers guided tours for organizations and institutions to provide the public with knowledge of glass bottle recycling and treatment. To apply for a visit to Happy Glass Garden, please click here.
The maximum number of visitors per tour is 30 persons and the tour will last for about 1 hour.
• Understand the current situation of glass recycling in Hong Kong, our company’s philosophy, the difficulties encountered and the results achieved
• Visit facility operation
• Visit the glass containers museum which has a variety of representative glass items, and the public can take away the reusable glass container as souvenir
• Waste glass containers recycling workshop*
(* The content of the workshop and whether it will be held or not, is subject to the arrangement of the tutor and the number of visitors.)
The facility has a 24-hour security monitoring system connected to a cloud server to enhance the transparency of the facility and maintain a tight security management.