Five thousand years ago, in Mesopotamia, a flaming liquid that would revolutionize the world was discovered. A long time after, us, Romans, managed to improve its production process, shaping it into various formats. Beautiful, huh?
Here in Brazil, only during late 19th century, this liquid started being produced in large scale. Have you found out which liquid is it? We're talking about glass!
Yes, glass is a liquid! It's true! One of the most important liquids for humanity.
Glass can be recycled endlessly. And we're going to know more about this recycling process now, together! INFINITE RECYCLING In places like this, through the city, modern people start the glass recycling process.
-Hey! What's up? -What's up, man?
-Your name? -Cristian. -Cristian, what are you doing?
-I'm doing my share. The more we bring material here, to recycle, the more we protect the planet. By doing your share, you're helping everyone else, right?
Sure. You just toss it here? It's that simple.
Just toss it here. -Let's do this, then! -Sure!
It's really fun! I love recycling! Look who's here!
-Hi! -Elvira Schuartzs. -How are you?
-I'm great! Elvira is an expert in handling the so-called glass, - turning it into art. - Yes.
The glass is rebellious. It needs to be tamed. -Like a wild animal.
-Almost like a wild animal. The history of glass is full of secrets. A lot of discoveries.
. . Was it an experiment or an accident?
It was an accident. They were carrying some rocks, didn't know exactly what it was. They put it on the sand to heat their food in a cauldron.
-They were heating food. -That's right. Then, they dozed off.
When they woke up, a thick red and yellow liquid was running down the sand, but it was too hot. When it cooled down, they grabbed it, and it was shiny. They called it "glass".
Is it true that glass can be recycled endlessly? It's endlessly recyclable. You can even use 60% of recycled material and 40% of raw material.
And yet, you'd have the best glass ever. So, glass is recyclable par excellence. And it must be recycled, because it'll always exist.
All this glass will be here five thousand years from now. -Think about it. -Let's recycle.
-We need to recycle! -We need to! I love recycling!
Yes, we need to! DRY RECYCLABLE MATERIAL Whenever there's glass, you need to wrap it with newspaper. Because we can get hurt.
Look at the size of this. It's really important to encourage that. Talking to kids about it, or work colleagues.
We think that disposable means using it once, throwing it away, and the cycle is over. But it isn't. The cycle restarts somewhere else.
What are you doing? Recycling. Really?
I tossed a glass bottle through this hole. I love recycling! What's on the other side?
Let's find out! -You separate them? -Yes.
We separate them into paper, PET, iron, and glass bottles. Do you have any trouble doing your job? Sometimes, people mix everything up.
-Toilet trash. . .
-They bring toilet trash here? Yes. We ask them not to, but they keep bringing it.
Look at the camera and tell everyone they shouldn't mix food with glass. Or food with plastic. Or with cardboard.
No. Separate them. -Let alone toilet paper!
-That's right! - Toilet paper is another kind of waste. - Yeah.
-Right? -It's true. What's the next step?
People bring waste here, you separate it, and where does it go? It goes to the co-operative. They separate it correctly.
To recycle and produce again. -That's right. -A new package.
-Yes. -Let's meet the co-operative, then! All glass you separate at home to be collected goes to a sorting center, where the co-operatives gather all the material to sell to recycling centers.
The material is milled and separated by type and color, before going to the glass industry. I've been working with glass for 30 years, and when I see this burning ball of glass, I always get emotional. It's really exciting.
-Shaping light. -Every time. .
. -We're shaping light. -Isn't it dangerous?
Glass is dangerous. We need personal protective equipment, glasses. .
. We use special gloves to handle it. Handling glass is an art.
Hail, Caesar! I heard that this is one of the units of the largest glass container producer in the planet. But, as a Roman Emperor, the people who improved glass production, I'll believe it when I see it.
Please, young man! -Hi, Cazé. -How are you?
It's a pleasure. Welcome to Owens Illinois Brasil. OWENS ILLINOIS BRASIL EAST ZONE - SÃO PAULO -So, let's start the tour.
-Sure. But first, I need you to wear the safety work equipment. But these are Roman clothes, they're safe!
Leather fist! The cape! Can I wear sandals?
No. I need to wear boots. Can I get in being bald?
-No. -I can't. I need to wear a helmet, glasses.
. . -What else?
-And hearing protection. Okay. And this head cap under the helmet.
Hold this for me, Marcio. -Can I wear a skirt? -No.
Can't I? Let's dance, Marcio. Okay.
My pants, please. The king is nude. Let's go!
I'm excited! You can talk to Michelle. She'll show you around.
Hail, Caesar! Michelle! -How are you?
-Good! How are you? Tell us: where are we?
And what do you do here? We're at the patio of shards at Owens Illinois, in São Paulo. We collect shards of glass to recycle.
Are there categories? I see they have different colors. Yes, we separate them by color.
There's the flint shard, which is transparent. The green shard, and the amber one. And where do they come from?
-From you. -From us! We recycle everything that has been used by us, and has been correctly allocated.
Go ahead! Go! And where do they go from here?
-To the furnace. . .
-To the furnace? I want to see the furnace! C'mon!
Let's go. The more shards we put in the furnace, the better. Better to the environment, to the factory, to consumers.
. . There's less power consumption, less carbon emission.
. . There's a lot of benefits, because glass is 100% recyclable.
Two pounds of glass will become two pounds of glass. There is no loss. What are you doing?
Wow, so many buttons! Is that how you control the furnace? This is where the magic happens.
Angelica will show you. This is paradise, Angelica. How are you?
Good. How are you? -You control the whole factory?
-Yes. This is how we make glass. This is where we melt raw materials.
Sand, soda ash, limestone, feldspars, and the shards you saw downstairs. They go into a mixer, like a giant blender, and then into the furnace. What is this water?
This isn't water. This camera is inside the furnace. I can't believe it!
Those are flames, with temperature around 2700°F. This is how we control the process. It wasn't like this back in my day!
It was different in Rome! How much glass can a single furnace produce? It depends, from 100 to 600 or 800 tons.
It depends on the process. -Can I push any button? -Please, don't!
Where are we going now? We're going to check quality process, the selection. -Paulo!
-How are you, Cazé? -Good. How are you?
-Fine. So, this is where you check all the production? Exactly.
Around 3. 5 million bottles per day. Wow!
We measure its resistance with a polariscope and surface treatment. These are devices to measure thickness, to see how thick the glass is. We can amplify the bottle and see it closely, to make bottle caps and stuff like that.
And we also measure its physical endurance. If the bottle can stand pressure when it's filled with beer or soda. We need to assess all this.
You're the guy who makes that jar that is so hard to open. Exactly. -So it won't break.
-Exactly. -Can I see a sample up close? -Sure.
Look at this. . .
Thank you, Paulo. -It was great meeting you. -Thank you.
-Are you tired? -Yeah. Time to take this cap off.
We went through all the steps of glass bottle production. This is the palletization area. Everything is dispatched from here.
It goes to the client, it's filled, and you consume it. And we consume it, we open it. So, next time you open a glass container, remember all this process, separate the material, and take it to a waste collection center so glass recycling can be even bigger.
The planet and the next generation appreciate it. I'm going back to my Empire. Thank you very much!
Thank you for visiting. -Have a safe trip. -Thank you!
