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Comment by sporkologist | Hacker News Reader

Take sand out, put a bunch of highly processed synthetic polymers in. Sounds good for the environment.

If it proves to be more durable than glass, requires less energy, and also offsets demand for mining, it could be a net gain. I don't have understanding of the supply chain, and the environmental impacts of glass manufacturing to know.

Recycling could be difficult (once again, I don't have the domain knowledge), but that's only an issue if it needs replacing.

The energy to melt and process glass is for sure the big limiter here.

Then again, most polymerised epoxy is basically not recyclable -- once it has set, it's set. The most you could do to this would be to burn it.

windows glass isn't easily recyclable either. it can be repurposed...

> However, while window glass may not be recycled easily, there are many options for keeping it out of the landfill. For example, it can be melted and re-manufactured into fiberglass, incorporated into asphalt, and even combined into reflective yellow and white road paints. Broken glass can be combined with concrete to create terrazzo flooring and countertops. Some companies even use old glass for landscaping materials and other decorative applications.

...but that's nowhere near a recycled window.

Of you could toss the carbon you don't want into old coal mines (or just land fill) - why would you burn it and cause more global warming, we should be tossing our used paper into landfill, recycling it reduces the demand for growing more trees (and fixing more CO2

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