Glass manufacturing in Yorkshire

Did you know that glass manufacturing is big in Yorkshire - and has been for hundreds of years?

And not just any old glass.  Many of the bottles and jars that Leeds households get through in their hundreds each year will have been made right here in Yorkshire.

That’s because traditionally the type of glass manufacturing that manufacturers in South and West Yorkshire have specialised in is the production of containers, bottles and jars.

Whether it’s bottles for beer or jars for jam, there’s a good chance they were made right here in Yorkshire.

There are currently 17 glass furnaces in South and West Yorkshire, each operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And glass manufacturers are keen to use recycled glass (known as cullet) in the production of new glass products whenever they can.

Typically, green glass bottles made right here in Yorkshire could be made with around 90% recycled glass.  That saves using up raw materials such as sand - and it reduces the amount of energy that’s required to make the glass.

New amber bottles tend to have a bit less recycled glass in the mix - often around 60%.  The amount of recycled glass used in the production of clear glass is often lower than that too - in part because less clear glass is recycled locally.  But it’s still an important part of the mix.

All this recycling results in significant reductions in CO2 emissions - with the glass industry estimating that they save 580kg of CO2 for every tonne of cullet (recycled glass) used.  You can read more about it here.

So it’s important that we play our part - to keep the Yorkshire glass recycling sector well supplied with recycled glass, for making new glass products.

The glass industry are so keen to keep their furnaces topped up with recycled glass that they have funded this campaign - to encourage people in Leeds to keep recycling. Thank you to Friends of Glass, Allied Glass and Ardagh Glass for your support!

You can find your nearest glass bank on our map - where you can also find out how many bottles and jars were recycled near you during 2020 - and the environmental impact of all that recycling.

Thank you for recycling your glass in Leeds!