Glass packages
Coloured and clear jars and bottles are sorted as glass packages.
Instructions for Sorting:
Empty and remove caps and corks. Rinse dirty glass packaging with cold water if necessary. No need to remove labels and rings. Please return deposit glass bottles to reverse vending machines in shops.
Glass bottles that have contained hazardous waste, e.g. perfume, nailpolish or medicines can be returned to collection for glass packages only if they are emptied of any residues.
Which Glasses are Unsuitable for Glass Recycling?
Healthcare packaging such as vials and ampoules, porcelain or ceramics, glass dishes (e.g. drinking glasses, oven dishes, coffee pots, lids for pots and pans), crystal, windows or mirrors, light bulbs or lamps. These are not packages. Also the properties of other glass materials prevent them from being used in recycling. For example, their melting points vary, or they have other properties that make them impossible or very difficult to be recycled.
Occasional drinking glasses or porcelain dishes can be put in mixed waste (combustible waste). Bigger amounts should be brought to a waste reception station where, for example, porcelain and ceramics can be recycled together with brick and concrete. Glass dishes and containers in good condition can be given a new life of reuse through our recycling mall Minimossen.
At the waste reception station
Larger quantities of glass are taken to a waste reception station and sorted according to the following instructions:
- Window glass and other flat glass should be placed separately in the designated area.
- Glass objects and mirror glass should be placed in landfill waste or in the designated area for them.
- Porcelain and ceramics are recycled with brick and concrete rubble.
- Lamps should be placed in electrical and electronic waste.
What happens to sorted glass packages?
Glass packaging waste is mostly turned into new glass packaging, i.e. glass bottles and jars, and part of the glass packaging waste is also turned into construction products, such as foam glass and glass wool. Glass construction products are manufactured in Finland, but the glass raw material is delivered abroad when manufacturing new glass packaging.
Almost all glass waste is recycled. The use of recycled glass as a raw material for new packaging is environmentally friendly and it reduces the need to use virgin raw materials. One kilogram of glass packaging waste sorted at home reduces greenhouse gases by 0.5 kilograms compared to it being put into mixed waste. Glass can be recycled virtually indefinitely without compromising quality or purity.
Sorting instructions for glass packages in Ukrainian.
All waste types