The material

Glass is made exclusively from natural or nature-identical inorganic raw materials, the majority of which exist or can be produced in Germany. Essentially, a total of six natural raw materials are necessary to produce soda-lime glass (sheet glass and container glass): approx. 70 percent quartz sand (SiO₂), 13 percent soda (Na₂CO₃), 10 percent lime (CaCO₃) and small quantities of dolomite, feldspar and potash. The selection and quantities of the raw materials used depend on the properties required of the finished glass product and the production process used. Not only the primary raw materials, but also processed pieces of old glass or cullets play an important role in the glass manufacturing process. Glass is 100 percent recyclable. This means that waste glass can always be reintroduced into the glass cycle for the production of new glass. Cullets (the name used to describe the pieces of recycled glass) have actually replaced sand as the main constituent of container glassbatches.