How to Safely Dispose of Broken Glass in Garbage Disposal?

Broken glass is one of the most common garbage materials in our homes. The risk is broken glass is all around our homes in the shape of a wine glass, a porcelain vase, or a broken window. But what’s surprising that not many people how to dispose-off broken glass safely.

The usual practice is to sweep it and dump it in the bin, but unfortunately, that’s not the proper way of doing it. We need to remember that the sharp edges can injure people who are handling it throughout the process and damage other items in the garbage bin.

Here is a guide that will help you dispose of broken glass more appropriately, all the way from sweeping to having it dropped off in the garbage collection bin. These points will also enlighten you on how broken glass is recycled.

How to Dispose of Broken Glass at Home?

  • Break the large pieces into manageable smaller pieces, and wrap them in a newspaper.
  • Once you have swept the floor, wrap the shards’ in a piece of cloth with a little bit of taping around it to secure it from falling. If wrapped in paper, it can cut through and easily fall out.
  • If the shards are big, you can use a hammer and gently apply pressure on the bits to break them into smaller chips. Once you’ve completed this, make sure no shards have fallen on the floor, which can injure you.
  • Then you can place all the broken pieces and shards in a box, tape them and label them to notify the handler that its broken glass inside. If the box is bigger then the items, add more cloth or paper to secure it and then tape it.
  • Broken glass is now in a safe condition to be disposed off in the garbage collection bin.

Can Broken Glass be Recycled?

One question we all have is, can we recycle broken glass? Remember that broken window glass, broken light bulbs, and even broken wine glasses do not belong to the same group as they are made up of different components compared to regular jars and glasses.

When you think of recycling broken glass, you should think of these:

Light Bulbs

You can quickly sweep and dispose off broken incandescent and halogen bulbs. Instead, when a fluorescent bulb breaks at home, you should dispose it very carefully as it is made up of hazardous materials. Always take the required precautions when handling broken light bulbs and ideally drop all the broken bulbs at the local hazardous waste facility.

Broken China

You can safely assume that your favorite wine glass cannot be recycled. That is because it has a different chemical composition than your regular drinking glass due to which it has a different melting point. Mixing both types of glasses for a recycle will do more harm than good.

When you dispose of them, wrap them in a cloth and pack them in a box. Label the box, so garbage disposal teams know what’s in the box.

Mirrors

Its a relatively more responsible task to dispose off broken mirror glass. It requires caution handling. Therefore its recommended to wrap the tape around the broken mirror glass and along with the corners. This action will allow it to be safely handled during collection.

How can Mixed Waste Garbage Bin be helpful?

With mixed waste garbage bins, you will never need to worry about dealing with how to dispose of which garbage item. All you need to do is dump in all your household garbage, and their team will handle the rest.

To learn more about how to safely dispose of broken glass in garbage disposals, you can always reach out to us at (832) 808-4755 .