---
title: "Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol — what it means"
description: "Take this glass to a bottle bank or glass collection. What the symbol looks like, what happens if you ignore it, and where its meaning differs by country."
url: https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-glass-recycling/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol

**Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol: Take this glass to a bottle bank or glass collection.**

## What it looks like

A figure putting a bottle into a bottle bank, or a bottle and jar above a bin outline.

## What it means

Glass is the one material where the recycling loop genuinely closes indefinitely — it can be remelted without quality loss, and cullet melts at a lower temperature than raw sand, so it saves energy on every pass. Colour separation matters, because green cullet cannot be turned back into clear glass. What must stay out is everything that is glass-like but is not container glass: Pyrex and other borosilicate ovenware, drinking glasses, window panes, mirrors and light bulbs all have different melting points and ruin a batch.

> Defined by National packaging labelling schemes. Where a symbol differs between standards, the difference is described above rather than resolved — both versions are in circulation on real labels.

## Other packaging and recycling symbols

| Symbol | Means |
| --- | --- |
| Mobius loop (chasing arrows) | The producer claims the item can be recycled — not that it will be, and not that your council collects it. |
| Mobius loop with a percentage | The pack contains that percentage of recycled material. |
| Green Dot (Der Grüne Punkt) | The producer paid into a national packaging recovery scheme. It does not mean the pack is recyclable, recycled, or made of recycled material. |
| Tidyman | Dispose of this thoughtfully. It has nothing to do with recycling. |
| Aluminium recycling (alu) | The item is aluminium and can be recycled as aluminium. |
| Recyclable steel | The item is steel — usually tinplate — and is separated magnetically for recycling. |
| Compostable seedling (EN 13432) | Certified to break down in an industrial composting facility — not in a home heap, a bin or the environment. |
| Home compostable | Certified to break down in an ordinary garden compost heap at ambient temperature. |
| FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) | The wood or paper comes from forests audited against the Forest Stewardship Council standard. |
| PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) | The wood or paper is certified under a national forestry scheme that PEFC endorses. |
| OPRL — Recycle / Don't Recycle (UK) | Whether this specific component is collected by most UK councils. |
| Triman (France) | In France, this product or packaging is subject to sorting rules and must not go in the general waste. |
| Estimated sign (℮) | The quantity is an average across the batch, checked under the EU average-quantity system. |

## Common questions

### What does the glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol symbol mean?

Take this glass to a bottle bank or glass collection.

### What does it look like?

A figure putting a bottle into a bottle bank, or a bottle and jar above a bin outline.

## Related pages

- [Aluminium recycling (alu)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-aluminium/)
- [OPRL — Recycle / Don't Recycle (UK)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-oprl/)
- [Mobius loop (chasing arrows)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-mobius-loop/)
- [Mobius loop (chasing arrows)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-mobius-loop/)
- [Mobius loop with a percentage](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-mobius-percentage/)
- [Green Dot (Der Grüne Punkt)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-green-dot/)
- [Tidyman](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-tidyman/)
- [Aluminium recycling (alu)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-aluminium/)
- [Recyclable steel](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-steel/)
- [Compostable seedling (EN 13432)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-compostable-seedling/)
- [Home compostable](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-home-compostable/)
- [FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-fsc/)
- [PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-pefc/)

## Sources

- US Environmental Protection Agency — EPA (https://www.epa.gov/) [Public domain (US Government)]