Breaking Bottles as a Form of Recycling

 

Recycling helps save the environment. It helps prevent pollution, saves nature, and helps reduce cost of reproduction. Over 41 billion glass containers are made each year but only about 30 percent are recyclable meaning 70 percent go into a landfill. A great way to recycle and get use out of old glass bottles is bottle breaking. Bottle breaking is a simple and exciting way to make cups, or containers out of bottles. You can use the cup to drink out of or use it as a holder. All you need is string, acetone, fire, and a bucket full of cold water. These bottles also make great homemade Christmas presents! If your family members are heavy drinkers they would love to get a cup made from their favorite drink bottle. You can also use your new container in your office to hold pens, or in your kitchen to hold spoons or even as a flower pot! There are so many uses for these new containers that you have made and recycled.

 

To start off you want to gather all the materials needed to break a bottle. You will need a bottle, string, fire, acetone and cold water. The string must be 100% cotton so that it can soak up the acetone well and burn longer and hotter.  You will need 100% peer acetone, not normal nail polish remover with acetone because it will not burn long enough to affect the bottle. Any lighter or match will do to get the fire going. Scissors are optional to cut the string after wrapping the bottle but fire works as well to cut off the extra string. Also need a bucket of ice cold water that is big enough to submerge half of the bottle in water. If the water is not ice cold it will not shock the bottle enough to break. If the bottle does not break because the water is not cold enough just add ice. And of course a glass bottle of your choice.

The first step to breaking a bottle is to wrap the string around the part of the bottle that you want to break. While wrapping the string you want to leave about five inches of string hanging on the cut side. Wrap the string 6-8 times around the bottle then cut the string about 5 inches from the bottle. Cut the string either using a scissors or you can burn it using your lighter or matches. Then take the two loose ends and tie them tightly together so that the string is tight to the bottle. Cut the loose ends off as close to the knot as you can. Slide the bundle of string off the top or bottom of the bottle whichever is easier, and place the string in a cup of acetone. Make sure the acetone completely covers the string. It does not matter how long the string is in the acetone as long as it is completely immersed. Take the bundle of string out of the acetone and carefully slide it back onto the bottle. The string may be a little tight but just keep sliding it down to where you want the bottle to break. Using the tips of your nails or fingertips work the best to slide the string onto the bottle.

 

Take the cover off of the bottle and hold the bottle at the base of it with the top slanted toward the bucket at a 30 degree angle. Hold the bottle with your left hand and use the lighter or matches and light the string with your right hand. As the string is burning continuously and slowly turn the bottle so that the fire gets distributed evenly. As the fire gets smaller and you begin to see blue flame it’s getting time to dip it into the water. When you see that all the flame is gone quickly submerge the bottle into the water with the top of the bottle straight down into the bucket. The bottle then should break on the line where the string is.  Once the bottle breaks carefully take the broken pieces out. From there recycle the top and any random pieces that broke off, be careful not cut yourself.

The bottle will not always break as well as you would like it to so you may want to try a couple times. This technique is difficult to perfect so don’t give up. As you begin to play around with bottle breaking you may want to try different kinds of bottles. You will find that certain bottles work better than others and this may be because the thickness of the glass will always be a little different. The main things that can go wrong is the water not being cold enough and the string not hot enough. Adding ice to the water will help and wrapping more string around the bottle may also help. Be patient and play around with this and you will soon find what works best.

In the end you end up with a unique new glass, pencil holder, or flower pot. While saving yourself some money to have a new set of glasses you also helped a little to save the world; one glass bottle at a time. Now instead of 30% of bottles being recycled you recycled more. Next time you want to get a gift for someone but are a little short of cash just start breaking some bottles.

 

By: Heidi Weber, Stephanie Belter, and Natalie Trumm