The Hidden Costs of Glass Bottles

The Silent Threat of Glass

A recent life cycle assessment study conducted at the University of Southampton in England ranked glass as the worst form of packaged water (yes, even worse than plastic bottles!). This is due to the immense amount of energy and resources required at almost every stage of its life cycle. The study states that the best solution for most use cases is paper bottles.

Sourcing Raw Materials

Sand dredging for production of glass products is rampant around the world

Producing glass requires mining raw materials and non-renewable natural resources such as silica sand and dolomite. This can lead to severe land deterioration and loss of biodiversity. Additionally, the refining process of silica sand uses large amounts of water, which deteriorates groundwater and natural drainage systems. Mining these materials also releases pollutants that are harmful to humans.

Moreover, sand is the second-most used resource in the world after water. Extracting sand for glass production significantly contributes to the global sand shortage. Glass production doesn't use desert sand; instead, it requires sand found in riverbanks, seabeds, and floodplains. These areas are stripped bare through a process known as dredging, where microorganisms are killed, and ecosystems are damaged to the extent that marine life may never recover. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), an average of 6 billion tonnes of sand per year come from oceans and seas. To put this into perspective, that’s the equivalent of more than one million dump trucks every day!

Manufacturing

Production of glass bottles is extremely energy intensive and leads to production of greenhouse gases

The hazardous impact of the raw materials doesn't stop at sourcing them. These materials are melted together in a furnace at extreme temperatures as high as 1500°C (2732°F), which is much higher than the temperatures required for PET packaging. This process releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. According to the International Energy Agency, the container and flat-glass industries emit over 60 megatons of carbon dioxide per year. Additionally, the manufacturing process also releases nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere due to high melting temperatures. This contributes to acidification and smog formation. Greenhouse gas emissions like these are detrimental to our health and contribute immensely to climate change and the greenhouse effect.

Transport

Glass is one of the thickest and heaviest materials used for water packaging. A recent study compared the environmental impacts of a 1-litre glass bottle to 1-litre plastic bottles. The glass bottle is almost 17-18 times heavier than PET water bottles! Due to the heaviness of glass, each transportation step along the supply chain requires more fuel, making shipping more expensive and having a much higher carbon footprint. In fact, the study found that the recycled PET bottle has almost 90% lower impacts than the glass bottle.

Additionally, glass is extremely fragile. It can easily break into pieces during transportation and usage. These pieces can end up in the ocean and on beaches, severely polluting the environment. A recent study found that glass beverage bottles were among the top 10 items polluting the ocean. While glass sinks into the ocean and isn’t noticeable during your regular beach day, it takes thousands of years to disappear. Glass shards can injure marine animals and negatively impact their habitat while contributing to the accumulation of debris.

Recycling

While glass is 100% recyclable, its recycling system comes with a myriad of problems. To begin with, even simple parts of the process, such as transporting the glass back to a recycling facility, are extremely inefficient and harmful to the environment. Moreover, glass recycling does not eradicate the remelting process, which is the most energy-intensive part of manufacturing glass. This accounts for 75% of energy consumption during production. Recycled glass must be crushed into cullets (broken, smaller pieces of glass) before being melted into new products.

It’s arguable that glass can be reused. However, in most cases, glass is still treated as single-use packaging. It can take up to 1 million years to decompose once it reaches a landfill. Until 2022, India alone produced three million tonnes of glass waste annually, of which only 35% was recovered for recycling. The amount of glass waste has increased in accordance with the shift of consumer preferences to glass over single-use plastic bottles or PET packaging.

The Solution: Paper-based Packaging

The environmental impacts of glass, while often overlooked, are extremely harmful. Most people who use glass bottles do so with the intention of reducing their carbon footprint, reducing their use of single-use plastic bottles, and improving environmental sustainability. However, after studying life cycle assessments, it's safe to say that they might be doing more harm than good.

A Sustainable Alternative

So what's a promising solution? Paper - at almost every stage of its life cycle. When it comes to water specifically, paper bottles or boxed water is the way to go.

Sourcing Raw Materials: A Lighter Footprint

Unlike glass, which relies on the extraction of non-renewable natural resources like silica sand, Blueprint's boxed water is predominantly paper-based. Most of it is produced from renewable natural resources such as wood pulp. The paper sourced for our products is FSC-certified, ensuring it comes from forests managed responsibly according to the Forest Stewardship Council's environmental, social, and economic standards. FSC ensures sustainable logging practices that drive environmental sustainability and protect biodiversity and ecosystems. The certification also guarantees fair treatment and rights for workers and local communities. By choosing FSC-certified paper, consumers support sustainable forest management and responsible sourcing.

Manufacturing: Lower Energy Consumption

The production of paper-based packaging for our paper bottles is far less energy-intensive compared to glass. While glass requires extreme temperatures to be melted, paper bottles can be processed at much lower temperatures. This results in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and a reduced carbon footprint during the manufacturing process of boxed water.

Transport: Lightweight and Efficient

One of the major advantages of paper-based packaging is its lightweight nature. Unlike glass bottles, which are heavy and bulky, boxed water is easy to transport. This results in lower fuel consumption and fewer emissions during shipping. This makes paper-based packaging and boxed water a more efficient and eco-friendly option for companies looking to reduce their transportation-related carbon emissions.

Recycling and End-of-Life: A Circular Economy

Paper is one of the most widely recycled materials in the world, supported by strong recycling programs. Unlike glass, which requires energy-intensive remelting, paper can be recycled through a simpler process that minimizes environmental impact. Moreover, paper is biodegradable, meaning that a large percentage of the paper-based product will break down over time without leaving as many harmful residues in the environment.

Choose Paper, Choose Boxed Water

While glass may seem like a sustainable option at first glance, its heavy environmental costs—from raw material extraction to transportation—make it a less ideal choice than many might assume. Paper-based packaging, on the other hand, as proven by several life cycle assessments, offers a more environmentally friendly solution. It addresses many of the challenges posed by glass.

So, take meaningful steps towards environmental sustainability. Reduce glass and plastic pollution. Conserve resources for generations to come. All you need to do is choose Blueprint's boxed water.

Blueprint: Good for you, better for the planet