The natural source of glass is sand.

Glass is obtained by melting the mixture of sand, soda, potash, lime and coloring or bleaching materials under appropriate conditions and using graded cooling methods.

Turkish Glass Industry started with the establishment of the first glass plant in Paşabahçe with a capacity of three thousand tons. Having a history of about 80 years, Turkish Glass Industry has continued its development and growth in this period. The production capacity of our country's glass industry is approximately 3.5 million tons.

Materials such as sand, limestone, feldspar, dolomite, soda, sodium sulfate, which are silica based for glass production, are made suitable for melting and cleaned. The amount of materials used varies depending on the type of glass. These materials are melted in high temperature furnaces. It is then shaped and cooled and used as product. Various factories of our country have production facilities that produce various glass products such as flat glass, glass processing (construction, automotive, white goods, energy), glassware, glass packaging, glass wool, stone wool, glass fiber and automotive glass. The glass sector, with its products; construction, automotive, white goods, food, soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, tourism, catering, furniture, pipes, electrical-electronics and energy, and is one of the main industrial fields that give input to the domestic use, is important for the national economy.

Glass products;

• Resistant to stretching,
• It has light transmission,
• Resistant to temperature changes,
• Resistant to chemical interaction,
• Refracts or reflects light,
• It shows its contents because of its transparency.

Glass products are considered as glass waste after the end of its life. For example, glass beverage bottles, jars and etc. However, we cannot treat porcelain waste as glass!

Glass wastes are fragile and can be injurious to living things due to their sharp characteristics.
Glass waste remains in the nature for thousands of years after disposal.

We should collect glass wastes separately from other wastes according to their usage types. For example, we should not collect flat glass (window glass) and packaging glass (glass bottle) in the same place. In particular, we should not forget that ceramic and porcelain wastes cannot be considered as glass waste.

We must deliver glass waste to licensed facilities for recycling.

As glass is a recyclable material for infinite times without loss of quality, it has a very important place among the wastes that can be recycled.
With the recycling of glass wastes, these wastes become raw materials and are melted and reused during production.
Significant energy savings are achieved by recycling glass waste.