Dropping a glass bowl or a light bulb can make a big mess. When glass hits the floor, it shatters in all directions, breaking into tiny pieces and shards. While this type of breakage is a hassle, dealing with a large quantity of broken glass can be challenging.
A large amount of broken glass can result from breaking a large window, skylight, car window, glass tabletop, or sliding glass door. At a job site, large quantities of broken glass can result from dropped glass materials, laboratory equipment, or window replacement glass.
This is not only more difficult to clean up, you also have to figure out how to dispose of all that glass. If the broken glass has other material mixed in, it complicates both your cleanup and disposal.
The greatest risk of broken glass is to the person using the glass item. But anyone close by can be injured from exploding glass.
There is also a risk of injury while disposing of broken glass. It should never be just tossed into an open wastebasket or trash can. There are many unintended consequences of improper waste disposal, so its good to be aware of them effects.
If deposited in this way and left unlabeled, it can harm anyone who reaches into the trash can or takes out the trash. Injuries resulting from broken glass can be severe at the time of the accident. But they can also lead to prolonged motor and sensory deficits for several years after the injury.
There are further hazards to waste handlers, with a potential for cuts if they have to handle the broken glass pieces or if the broken glass is spilled or tears through a plastic trash bag.
Joshua Greene, a Safety Manager in Pennsylvania, reveals another hidden danger.
“Cuts can quickly lead to severe infections as the glass grows bacteria while sitting on the curb in heat.”
If glass is broken in a sink, do not flush the broken glass down the drain. Glass in your pipes can cause a blockage of the drain, your pipes, or your sewer line. With a septic system, glass pieces will sink to the bottom of the tank, so they won’t cause much problem there. But they could still get lodged in the pipes before they reach the tank.
Take the time to dispose of broken glass carefully. These steps will ensure that you and others are safe from serious injury:
Before attempting to clean up and dispose of broken glass, put on some good gloves. Gloves made from heavy rubber or durable canvas are best. Always wear closed-toe shoes when cleaning up broken glass. If you are dealing with a large quantity of broken glass, wear safety glasses as well.
Line a strong cardboard box with a plastic trash bag. You can place some newspaper in the box as well to keep the glass from poking through the plastic. A 5-gallon bucket with a lid is also a good container for broken glass.
Once the lid is in place, wrap it with a layer of plastic tape to securely seal it. Other alternatives for a cardboard box include used sugar or pet food bags, which are typically two layers of thick paper.
Pick up any large pieces of glass and deposit into the plastic-lined box. Use tongs or forceps if you have them available. Never handle broken glass with your bare hands.
Remember that broken glass travels far from the point of impact and breakage. You should check under furniture, tables, appliances, and anything in a direct line from the impact point. Glass can even fly into adjoining rooms, so check those as well.
When a big pane of glass is broken, you may have to deal with very large pieces of broken glass. These large pieces should be broken up into smaller pieces before disposal.
To do this, wrap the big pieces of glass in a heavy scrap towel, cloth, or tarp. Use a hammer to gently break the glass into smaller pieces so that they fit into your disposal container.
Sweep up the broken glass with a broom. Collect the pieces using a dustpan and a brush. If you don’t have a dustpan available, use a piece of heavy cardboard or paper. Deposit the broken glass pieces in the plastic-lined cardboard box.
Once you’ve swept up most of the broken glass, there will still be fine particles and shards. Fold paper towels into several layers. Wet this and use the damp paper towels to wipe the area.
Deposit the used paper towels in the cardboard box of broken glass. Do not use a sponge, cloth napkin, or a cloth towel, as they can retain tiny slivers of glass, even after washing them.
If the glass was a jar or bowl containing liquid, it is more challenging to clean up. A rubber squeegee makes this easier, as you can collect the glass and the liquid at the same time.
Use the squeegee to scoop the glass and liquid into a dustpan. Place some paper towels in the broken glass collection box to absorb the liquid and then deposit the liquid-glass mixture in the box.
Do not fill up your cardboard box more than 3/4 full. Tie up the plastic garbage bag and then seal it with packing tape. Close up the cardboard box and seal it with tape.
In most cases, this box can be placed out with your regular trash. It is helpful to write “Broken Glass” on the box. This will protect the waste handlers picking up your trash. Broken glass should never be placed in your recycling bin.
There are more than 3 million tons of glass recycled in the United States each year. The vast majority of that is recycled glass containers, such as jars and bottles. Glass is recyclable and can be recycled over and over without losing any purity or quality.
However, in most locations, glass can only be recycled if it is intact. This includes glass bottles, jars, and other glass containers. There are typically restrictions on broken glass from windows, light bulbs, mirrors, Pyrex, dishes and serving ware, and plate glass.
Some glass is manufactured using hazardous chemicals. These products include window glass, mirrors, and light bulbs. The presence of these chemicals makes the glass unsuitable for recycling. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) require special handling for disposal and can only be processed at a proper recycling facility.
There is also a problem with mixing different types of glass. For example, drinking glasses have different properties than jar glass. Their chemical makeup and melting point differ, making it unsafe to combine the two types of glass in the recycling process. Mixing the two together results in a recycled product that is prone to having fracture points and instability.
“It’s really hard to sort glass, and it’s really hard to sort out ceramic little pieces from a glass pile. The bottle company cannot use that material to make new bottles. That is a piece of the problem,” explains Anita Comer of Waste-Not Recycling.
“The other problem is that glass gets broken into little pieces. It’s getting crushed. It gets dumped on the ground.”
In single-stream recycling facilities, there isn’t a good way to separate out broken glass. Since this waste is subject to hand sorting at some point in the process, it is unsafe to include broken glass in your mixed recycling materials.
These types of facilities are also unable to fully separate small shards of broken glass from other recyclables such as plastics or metal. This is such a serious problem that many single-stream facilities will not take any glass for recycling, whether it is intact or broken.
Stephen Gillette, director of a Colorado Solid Waste Department explains,
“It’s not that glass isn’t useful. It’s just that it’s been rendered not useable for recycling because it’s been damaged. I don’t think anybody is breaking glass on purpose.”
While care should be taken when cleaning up broken glass, its proper disposal is just as important. There is a risk of serious injury from handling broken glass.
It is important to take the proper precautions to ensure that you and your waste handlers are protected from harm. Taking the time to gather, secure, and dispose of broken glass will keep anyone who comes in contact with it safe and protected from injury.
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Keep in mind; no glass items should be placed in a dumpster! If glass breaks in your bin, all contents of the dumpster must be cleared and cleaned before it can be picked up. This is to ensure proper waste disposal practices!
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