Main Ingredients

• Silica Sand• Lime (from limestone), • Magnesium Oxide • Aluminum Oxide• Sodium Carbonate

(Soda Ash)

Gathering Resources

• Silica Sand: Gathered from everywhere in the world. Form of Quartz.

• Limestone: also found all over the world, but in big rocks.

• Magnesium Oxide: Taken from nature in the form of Periclase.

• Aluminum Oxide: Gathered from naturally reoccurring rocks called corundum.

• Soda Ash: Extracted from ashes of plants and produced from table salt and limestone from Solvay Process.

ManufacturingProduction of glass

• Made by: the mixing of Calcium Carbonate, Sand, and Sodium Carbonate (Waste Glass)

• Heated in a furnace at 2550° F• The molten glass then is then rolled/cut into “globs” - Globs are put into molds then molded by air. This process is called

a Parison

- The process of expanding the glass is called blowing- Final step of this process is annealing, which is the

reheating and gradual cooling

Three types of molding

• Extrusion- glass is in a tube shaped parison• Injection- inject the glass directly into a mold • Injection stretch- Glass is blown and stretched by a

metal rod at the same time • Parison is the the molten glass in the mold before it

takes the hollowness of the bottle

Process

http://wisedude.com/science_engineering/bottles.htm

Packaging

• Most Popular way they are packaged in bulk is called pallets.– Pallets usually contain between 1000 and 4000

containers each. – Carried out to the trucks by automatic machines.• Aka palletisers which arrange and stack container

– Other ways of packaging include boxes and hand sewn sacks.

Consumer Use

• Various Popular Products– Snapple– Arizona Iced Tea– Alcohol– Root Beer…ect.

• Cleaner and less dangerous chemically than plastic– However glass breaks

Marketing• Mature market business.

– Industry sales associated with population growth.• Geographical business.

– Product is heavy and large in volume, major raw materials (sand, soda ash and limestone)

– production facilities need to be close to their markets.• Glass furnace—100s of tons of glass• Factories run 24/7.

– +/- 3% change in production rates.• High costs

– The marketing challenge• predict and influence demand both in the short + long term

• High level of consumer acceptance and is perceived as a “premium” quality packaging format.

Recycling of Glass Bottles

• Americans throw away enough glass bottles ever two weeks to fill the, 1,350 foot towers of the world trade center

• This is the process of turning used glass, back into usable glass

• You have to separate glass by chemical composition, and sometimes color

Facts

• Most bottles and jars already contain 25% recycled glass

• Glass NEVER wears out, it lasts forever

• Recycling glass reduces pollution by 14-20%

What actually Happens

• Glass is sorted• Put in different colored

piles• Glass cleaned and

crushed in small pieces called cullet

• Cullet transported to plant and mixed with sand, soda ash and limestones

• After mixture is complete, it is then put in a furnace that reaches temp. of 2800

• Melted glass is dropped into a glass forming machine

• Mold is then removed, then glass is cooled and inspected.

Sites

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Glass_ingredients

• http://www.consol.co.za/irj/go/km/docs/site/pages/gathering_raw_materials.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_oxide

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corundum• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_carbona

te