Glass (new): carbon footprint per tonne of new glass

Glass-making is furnace work: melting sand, soda ash and limestone at around 1,500 °C gives new glass the official per-tonne footprint shown live below. Heavy and energy-intensive, glass packaging often carries more embodied carbon than the drink inside it.

The recycling story is real but partial: remelting cullet cuts the factor by roughly 40% — the furnace still runs, but avoids the limestone's process CO2 and some melting energy. Because glass is heavy, its transport emissions also outweigh lighter packaging per unit delivered; lightweighting and refill schemes attack both ends.

Worked example

500 kg of glassware and bottles for an event: 0.5 × 1,402.77 = 701 kgCO2e.

Measure your own with the free event calculator.

Frequently asked questions

How much does recycling cut glass's footprint?

The DESNZ closed-loop factor is roughly 40% below primary production — a genuine saving, though smaller than aluminium's ~90%, because the furnace energy remains either way.

Related factors

• Aluminium cans and foil
• PET plastic
• Clothing (new textiles)