Better Sorting Technology Means Recycled Glass Can Now Go into ...

The streets of New York don't glitter with gold, but they are pretty sparkly from all that recycled glass mixed in with the asphalt. Putting crushed-up glass into roadways was previously the go-to option for what to do with the stuff, since it was just about impossible to separate broken glass from the other stuff in the recycling bin in a cost-effective way.

Now, however, better sorting technologies mean recycling companies can isolate clear glass—that's the stuff you want, if you want to turn it back into bottles--through a hi-tech series of automated processes. Check it out:

I realize it would be impossible to collect old bottles, sanitize them and re-use them, as we once did with milk bottles, but I wonder what the energy costs of that would be, versus recycling.