How Glass Recycling Works

Ripple gathers over 800 tons of glass every single week from residents and businesses in the KC area and the surrounding region, and then processes it into usable materials for remanufacturing as new glass, insulation, countertops, and more.

In four easy steps, you can start recycling your household glass​

Step 1

If you have glass bottles, jars, drinking containers, vases, and more, you can recycle!

Step 2

Start storing your glass at home! Find a spot in your garage, under your sink, or anywhere that is convenient for you. Our durable home bins make it easy and convenient! A cardboard box or even a plastic kitty litter box also works great.

Step 3

Find a purple bin near you! All Ripple Glass bins are open to the public and free to use.

Step 4

Drop your glass in the bin and we’ll take it from there.Β 

The glass is brought to the Ripple Glass processing facility where it is cleaned, sorted by color, crushed, and sized to meet the needs of its end-users. Specifically, the brown (or amber) glass is separated out, broken down into 2-inch pieces, and sent to a bottle manufacturer to be re-melted into new beer bottles! The other clear and colored glass is crushed down into a coarse sand-like consistency and sent just across the state line to a fiberglass insulation manufacturer in Kansas City, Kansas where they use it to make fiberglass insulation.