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489_15 | Matters were complicated further as recording went on. Elias recalled a lack of solid material and the tension between Anderson and Howe especially, including the refusal of the two to stay in the studio while the other was present. Elias tried to help stimulate creativity and brought in a Hammond organ for Wakeman to play, but recalled Rick refusing as he thought the instrument was outdated. Elias concluded that ABWH "didn't care about a note of music", and was relieved to have finished some of the material at all, considering the difficulties and his personal dislike for some of the songs. In addition, Wakeman and Howe had both agreed to solo commitments prior to recording, so their respective keyboard and guitar tracks were stored onto a computer, but not finalised and mastered. In their absence, Elias and Anderson brought in session musicians to play new arrangements from the initial takes as they were dissatisfied with what Wakeman and Howe had played. Elias said, "We weren't |
489_16 | looking for only the early-'70s 'pyro technique'. We wanted something more modern". |
489_17 | Among the eleven additional keyboard and synthesiser players featured on Union is Jim Crichton of Saga. Crichton and his assistant Brian Foraker were given songs that needed work and the pair "tried to fill in the gaps" at Crichton's own studio by playing parts that they thought Wakeman might play under those circumstances. Crichton felt "Dangerous (Look in the Light of What You're Searching For)" was a particularly strong track in demo form, but that the final version on the album was substandard.
Producer and record company dissatisfaction with some of Howe's guitar parts led to attempts to have them re-recorded by other musicians. Trevor Rabin was invited to do this, but turned down the opportunity. Recordings were made with session guitarist Scott van Zen, but ultimately the parts in question were replaced by Jimmy Haun who had worked in Squire's band The Chris Squire Experiment. |
489_18 | Wakeman criticised Elias for allowing the edits and overdubs, and the two addressed each other's issues in different publications of Keyboard magazine. Elias "never questioned Rick's technical ability" and stressed that Union was not an album of "major opuses" and felt Wakeman had "lost his edge". Elias ranked his time with Haun as his best experience during the making of the album. Howe called Haun an "average guitarist" and compared his changes to "having an abortion". Elias maintained the view that he and Anderson agreed that outside musicians were needed and described Howe's reaction as merely "bruised ego from someone who is a very good guitar player in his own right."
Howe included the original backing tracks of "Dangerous (Look in the Light of What You're Searching For)" and "Without Hope You Cannot Start The Day" on his 2017 compilation Anthology 2: Groups & Collaborations. |
489_19 | Cover
Roger Dean was hired to design the art for the album. After the release of Big Generator, Dean was asked by Phil Carson to design a new band logo, and came up with a square design, but it was not used due to Anderson forming ABWH. When it came to Union, Dean decided to use the Yes logo he designed in 1972, the square design appearing in the corner and on the subsequent Yesyears cover.
Songs
Howe used a guitar riff for "I Would Have Waited Forever" from "Sensitive Chaos", a track from his solo album Turbulence (1991). Elias thought the track best represented "both early and later Yes styles". |
489_20 | "Masquerade" is an acoustic guitar instrumental written and performed by Howe. He recorded the track in fifteen minutes at his home studio using a two-channel Revox deck, "away from all the arguments and politics" that came with making the album. He recorded other acoustic tracks on a Spanish guitar for the album, including one titled "Baby Georgia", but Arista decided to use "Masquerade", a track Howe ironically almost decided against sending because he thought it was not as strong as the others. |
489_21 | "Lift Me Up" was written by Rabin and Squire. The two used a dictionary to look for suitable rhyming words for the song's lyrics, which is how they came up with the word "imperial" in its chorus. According to Rabin, the song concerns a homeless person who enters a restaurant just to use the bathroom, only to have the people inside telling him he has to leave. "And he just looks up to the sky [and says] ... you know, help me out". Rabin completed two different mixes of the track but Arista founder Clive Davis disliked them. After Squire suggested they bring in someone else, Paul Fox was hired and finished a mix with assistance from Ed Thacker that was used on the album. Rabin, feeling the original mix was superior, thought Fox and Thacker's work was "very good" but it suffered from them not having a clear idea of what Rabin had wanted. |
489_22 | "Without Hope (You Cannot Start the Day)" originated from Elias, who recorded a basic outline of the track in one afternoon and sent the tape to Wakeman to add keyboards. Elias and Anderson felt dissatisfied with Wakeman's contribution; They had wished for something "simple and gentle" but instead got a part that to Elias "sounded like a Rachmaninoff piano concerto", and hence recorded a new piano part.
Rabin felt "Saving My Heart" was not suitable for a Yes album, a feeling he had also had for the band's most successful single, "Owner of a Lonely Heart". He had originally planned to develop the track further with Roger Hodgson before Anderson heard it and wished to work on it for Union. The song displays a distinct reggae influence. Rabin was unhappy with the song's final mix as it did not turn out the way he had wished. |
489_23 | "Miracle of Life" is a track Rabin described as a protest song; the inspiration for its lyrics came from watching a news report on the slaughtering of dolphins in Denmark. The track has a distinctly "classic" Yes influence, highlighted through Kaye's Hammond B-3 organ playing during the introduction. Howe thought the track was "very good".
"Silent Talking" is a song that Howe wrote that originally connected with an instrumental called "Seven Castles". Howe thought it contained some of his better guitar playing on the album, but felt Anderson came in too soon with his vocals in the second half (after his solo began). The song features a riff that Howe had used on his solo album Turbulence (1991). |
489_24 | "The More We Live – Let Go" is the first song that Squire and Billy Sherwood wrote together. Sherwood and 1970s Yes producer Eddy Offord wanted Squire to re-record the bass parts that Sherwood had played on the demo, but Squire felt that Sherwood's playing suited the song perfectly and insisted it be kept. To Sherwood, the writing and recording process was so successful, he and Squire agreed to continue writing together from then on. The pair also wrote "Love Conquers All", a track with Rabin on lead vocals and released on the Yes box set Yesyears (1991).
"Angkor Wat", named after the Cambodian temple of the same name, was written by Elias, Anderson and Wakeman. During Wakeman’s final day of recording, Elias asked Wakeman to record some atmospheric keyboard sounds that were then layered and formed into a track. Wakeman recorded each layer without hearing what he had recorded on the previous layer. At the conclusion of the song, a poem is recited by Pauline Cheng in Cambodian. |
489_25 | "Evensong" is an excerpt from the middle section of a duet that Bruford and Levin would perform nightly on the 1989-1990 ABWH tour. The title is Bruford's, named after an evening prayer service held in English churches.
Release
Union was released on 30 April 1991. The album was a success on the charts, reaching its peak of number seven on the UK Albums Chart in May 1991 during a six-week stay. In the United States, it debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number thirty-five, the week of 18 May 1991. The album climbed on the following week, reaching its peak at number fifteen on the week ending 25 May. It was present on the chart for a total of nineteen weeks.
On 2 July 1991, Union was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 500,000 copies. |
489_26 | In 1992, "Masquerade" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Howe described the nomination for his track as "pure justice", following the difficulties in making the album.
Yes released three singles from Union in 1991. "Lift Me Up" was the lead single, released in April 1991. It became one of the band's most successful singles, spending six weeks at number one from its third week on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, later known as the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It was number one from the week of 4 May to 8 June 1991. It reached a peak of eighty-six on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The second single, "Saving My Heart", released in July 1991, reached a high of number nine on the Album Rock Tracks chart a month later. "I Would Have Waited Forever" was the final single released.
Reception |
489_27 | The album received mixed reviews from critics. Chuck Eddy gave it two stars out of five for Rolling Stone, calling it "an eclectic miscarriage that almost isn't even worth laughing about", and wished the album had more memorable hooks, riffs, and concise lyrics. Q magazine issued a review from Robert Sandall, who thought Union "veers alarmingly between ... neurotically jumpy overarrangements and competing time signatures" from ABWH and "heads-down riffing" from the Yes members. Sandall picked out "Lift Me Up" as one of the few "strong, anthemic tunes" that remain "unscathed" from the collision of such varied styles, which makes Union "one of the least ridiculous Yes albums in recent memory". Dave DiMartino of Entertainment Weekly rated the album with a D+, and called it a "stunningly wicked parody of an outlandish concept", pointing out its "complete and utter unlistenability". |
489_28 | In The Washington Post, Gil Grifin noted that "musically and conceptually", the band are "reaching for its glorious past" which resulted in an album not entirely appealing. Though "Lift Me Up", "The More We Live – Let Go" and "Saving My Heart" are picked as more favourable tracks, Grifin concludes with "the aloofness of 'Union' is often sleep-inducing". Union received two and a half stars out of five in a retrospective review by Bruce Eder for AllMusic. Eder thought it was always difficult for the album to live up to expectations given the amount of musical talent involved. Nevertheless, he judged its songs "reasonably solid", and cites the harmonies in "I Would Have Waited Forever" from Anderson and Squire and Howe's "Masquerade" as highlights. But he thought "Lift Me Up" is a "forced exercise in heaviness" and "Without Hope (You Cannot Start the Day)" a "composed-by-numbers" track. In his book The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock, Paul Stump commented that |
489_29 | "the music of Union, an unhappy testament to hubris, conceit and corporate expediency, unintentionally embodies all the crimes that had been (often mistakenly) laid at the band's door hitherto." He argued that the concept was flawed from the beginning, saying it was unrealistic to expect the band members to cooperatively produce an album of quality and subtlety given the history of strife between them. |
489_30 | Most of the band have negative opinions on the album. Wakeman stated he was dissatisfied with the production, commenting that most of his contributions were so altered in the final result that he could not recognise them, adding that he called the album Onion because "it made me cry every time I heard it". Rabin thought it lacked a linking thread and ranked 90125 and Big Generator as better. "I don't hate Union as much as Rick," he stated in 2016, "but it was a peculiar record. It was instigated by Clive Davis and made largely in isolation by the musicians and Jon, so the title is misleading. To me, Union is more of a failed project than a real album." Bruford remains very critical: "It was probably not only the most dishonest title that I've ever had the privilege of playing drums underneath, but the single worst album I've ever recorded."
The music portal Ultimate Classic Rock ranked Union worst in its list of Yes albums. |
489_31 | Track listing
Note: "Angkor Wat" and "Give & Take" are not included on the vinyl LP version.
Tour
The Union Tour covered North America, Europe, and Japan from 9 April 1991 to 5 March 1992, billed as Yesshows '91: Around the World in 80 Dates. It was the first rock tour produced by Philadelphia-based Electric Factory Concerts in its history which also organised advertising and promotion. The partnership evolved following discussions between Anderson and EFC head Larry Magid, who learned that Anderson had enjoyed how the ABWH concert in Philadelphia was presented. The tour featured the eight members playing on stage and some shows were performed in the round with a central revolving stage that the band had first used on their 1978 tour. |
489_32 | Unlike the album, most of the group have reflected positively on the tour. Wakeman ranked it as the most fun he had on a tour. Bruford, by contrast, said the tour was "ludicrous, really. For some of us, it was a very lucrative bit of fun; others needed it desperately." A live CD and DVD from various dates was released in 2011 as Union Live.
Yes reverted to the 1983–1988 line-up for their next album, Talk.
Chart performance
Certifications |
489_33 | Personnel
Yes
Jon Anderson – lead and backing vocals (all except tracks 3 and 13), production
Steve Howe – acoustic and electric guitars (tracks 1-3, 5, 8, 11, 12 and 15), production (track 3)
Trevor Rabin – electric guitars, lead and backing vocals (tracks 4, 6, 7 and 9), production (tracks 4, 6, 7), engineering (track 9)
Chris Squire – harmony and backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6-9 and 11), bass (tracks 4, 6, 7)
Tony Kaye – Hammond B-3 organ, piano (tracks 4, 6, 7 and 9)
Rick Wakeman – keyboards (tracks 1, 2, 5, 8, 10-12, 14 and 15)
Bill Bruford – acoustic and electric drums, percussion (tracks 1, 2, 5, 8, and 11-15)
Alan White – acoustic drums and percussion (tracks 4, 6, 7 & 9)
Additional personnel |
489_34 | Jonathan Elias – piano (track 5), synthesizers/programming, backing vocals, production
Tony Levin – bass guitar (tracks 1, 2, 5, 8, 11, 12, 14 and 15), Chapman Stick (track 13)
Jimmy Haun – electric guitar (tracks 5, 8, 10 & 11)
Billy Sherwood – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (track 9)
Allan Schwartzberg – acoustic percussion
Gary Barlough – synthesiser
Jerry Bennett – synthesiser, synth percussion
Jim Crichton – synthesiser (track 11)
Pauline Cheng – recitation (track 10)
Gary Falcone – backing vocals
Deborah Anderson – backing vocals
Ian Lloyd – backing vocals
Tommy Funderburk – backing vocals
Sherman Foote – synthesiser
Brian Foraker – synthesiser programming
Chris Fosdick – synthesiser
Rory Kaplan – synthesiser programming
Alex Lasarenko – synthesiser
Steve Porcaro – keyboards, synthesizer programming
Michael Sherwood – backing vocals
Danny Vaughn – backing vocals
Technical personnel |
489_35 | Eddy Offord – producer, mixer (track 9)
Mark Mancina – producer, programming
Brian Foraker – engineer, mixer
Chris Fosdick – additional engineering (track 10)
Buzz Borrowes – assistant engineer
Sophie Masson – assistant engineer
Richard Edwards – assistant engineer
Renny Hill – assistant engineer
Matt Gruber – assistant engineer
Michael Sweet – assistant engineer
Paul Berry – assistant engineer
Steve Wellner – assistant engineer
Lolly Grodner – assistant engineer
Susan Kent – production co-ordinator
Paul Fox – mixer
Ed Thacker – mixer
Mike Shipley – mixer
Steve Harrison – assistant engineer
Stan Katayama – engineering
Greg Calbi – mastering
Roger Dean – design and paintings
Carolyn Quan – art director
Kai Krause – computer graphics
References
Citations
Bibliography |
489_36 | Yes (band) albums
1991 albums
Albums with cover art by Roger Dean (artist)
Arista Records albums
Albums produced by Jonathan Elias
Albums produced by Eddy Offord
Albums produced by Trevor Rabin
Albums produced by Billy Sherwood
Albums produced by Mark Mancina
Albums produced by Jon Anderson
Albums recorded at Studio Miraval |
490_0 | "Higher" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna for her eighth studio album, Anti (2016).
Production and composition
Rihanna previewed the song on Instagram in early March 2015. The song was written Ernest Wilson (No I.D.), B. Bourelly, Rihanna, Jerry Butler, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. No I.D., also produced the song which samples contains elements from “Beside You” performed by The Soulful Strings. American producer Kuk Harrell handled the song's vocal production. "Higher" was recorded at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles. The vocal recording was carried out by Marcos Tovar for Allfadersup and Harrell. The song was finally mixed by Manny Marroquin at Larrabee Studios in North Hollywood, along with mixing assistants Chris Galland and Ike Schultz, before being mastered by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound, in New York City. |
490_1 | The ballad is two minutes long. NME Jordan Bassett called "Higher" a "straight-up love song", and Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone described the song as "bluesy". The Independent Emily Jupp described "Higher" as an "Amy Winehouse-inspired number", and Nolan Feeney of Time called the song a "whiskey-soaked come-hither". |
490_2 | Reception
Higher received universal acclaim from music critics. Billboard Julianne Escobedo Shepherd wrote, "The vocal on the last-call ballad 'Higher,' which seems to be an early fan favorite, is far less effective, however: Rihanna strains into the high register as she sings from the perspective of a burdened doyenne halfway through a drunk dial; what she means as an emotional effect teeters too far off-pitch (evidence on its own that inebriated voicemails are never a good idea)." Consequence of Sound's David Sackllah called the song "thunderous", with Rihanna "[pushing] her vocal prowess past its breaking point, packing an album’s worth of stunning moments into two minutes". |
490_3 | Jordan Bassett of NME said, "There's tinkling piano and elegiac piano, but what really stands out is Rihanna's smoking, soaring vocal, which might be one of those most beautiful and romantic things she's put to record." In his review of Anti, Michael Cragg of The Guardian wrote, "'Higher' is the point where Rihanna's new experimental vocal tone goes a bit haywire. It's actually almost unlistenable, which is a shame because the musical waltz straining to be heard in the background is really pretty." Contrastingly, the newspaper's Alexis Petridis said the song's "combination of slurred vocal and woozy music sounds amazing, like an epic 60s tearjerker performed by people who've overindulged so much they're either on the verge of passing out, or being sick in a bin". |
490_4 | Pitchfork's Jayson Greene said the song was "yet another masterful piece of work from No I.D.", and wrote: "We’ve met a lot of Rihannas over the years, but 'Higher' ... is the first appearance of 'last call Rihanna'—a drunk-dialer with a ruined voice box, an insatiable burning in their loins, and an alarming lack of interest in maintaining dignity. This is a song about the desire for late-night sex and companionship so urgent that it actually feels like a song about how much it hurts to have a Humvee back over your leg. And that is because Rihanna gives so much of herself in the vocal booth that it feels like she might pass out... This song is two minutes long, but it is a complete transmission from someplace more louche and heartbroken and painful than our world." Spin Brennan Carley compared the song to "At Last", while Eve Barlow said the song was "a tad shout-y". |
490_5 | Teen Vogue Crissy Milazzo wrote, "At Rihanna's most Amy Winehouse moment, she sings about whiskey and ashtrays, letting you hear the wear-and-tear on her voice for a brief two minutes. This one is a must-listen, as it feels like an Adele deep cut with Rih's trademark bad girl edge. It's both sad and hopeful, triumphant and defeated. Strings add to the drama, giving you the emotion that's usually only reserved for Rihanna's social media. Most of all, it's honest, it's refreshing, and it's a win on an album that feels all her own." USA Today Maeve McDermott and Patrick Ryan said the song was "a finger in the eye" to "Love on the Brain", the preceding track on the alum, "as Rihanna ditches the pretty vibrato to sing-shout some late-night come-ons in the most BadGalRiRi moment on the record." Caroline Framke of Vox wrote, "'Higher' is just two minutes long, but Rihanna's raw longing is scorching. It goes from a beguiling, 'This whiskey got me feeling pretty,' to Rihanna throwing herself |
490_6 | into the sloppier mess of just wanting to be with someone, and fast... Never has a drunk dial been this convincing — or this powerfully moving." |
490_7 | Legacy
"Higher" inspired the song "Liability" from New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde's second album Melodrama (2017), when Lorde was reportedly "moved to tears" listening to "Higher" and this helped her to write "Liability".
In 2020, the track was later sampled in "Flux Capacitor” by Jay Electronica from his debut album A Written Testimony, featuring vocals from Jay-Z.
Cover versions
Maren Morris shared her performance of the song online.
Charts
Certification
See also
No I.D. production discography
References
2010s ballads
2016 songs
Rihanna songs
Songs about alcohol
Songs written by Bibi Bourelly
Songs written by James Fauntleroy
Songs written by Jerry Butler
Songs written by Kenny Gamble
Songs written by Leon Huff
Songs written by No I.D.
Songs written by Rihanna |
491_0 | The Avonworth School District is a small, suburban, public school district located in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Avonworth School District encompasses approximately 11 square miles. The district serves the Boroughs of Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights and Emsworth and Kilbuck Township and Ohio Township. According to 2000 federal census data, it serves a resident population of 8,716 people. In 2009, the district residents' per capita income was $27,781 a year, while the median family income was $62,331. According to District officials, in school year 2009-10 the Avonworth School District provided basic educational services to 1,409 pupils through the employment of 122 teachers, 83 full-time and part-time support personnel, and 15 administrators. Avonworth School District received more than $4.7 million in state funding in school year 2009–10. |
491_1 | The district operates four schools: Avonworth High School (9th–12th), Avonworth Middle School (7th–8th), Avonworth Elementary School (3rd-6th), and Avonworth Primary Center (K-2nd).
Governance
The school district is governed by 9 individually elected board members (serve four-year terms), the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The federal government controls programs it funds like Title I funding for low-income children in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates the district focus resources on student success in acquiring reading and math skills. |
491_2 | The Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives Sunshine Review gave the school board and district administration a "D-" for transparency based on a review of "What information can people find on their school district's website". It examined the school district's website for information regarding; taxes, the current budget, meetings, school board members names and terms, contracts, audits, public records information and more.
In 2010, the school board meeting minutes and policy manual are available online in the district's website.
Statewide High School PSSA Rankings
The following statewide rankings (out of 676 public school districts) are based solely on the PSSA results of the high school's junior class:
2017- 94th
2016- 41st
2015- 476th
2014- 267th
2013- 135th
2012- 142nd
2011- 97th |
491_3 | High school
Avonworth High School is located at 304 Josephs Lane, Pittsburgh. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2010, the school reported an enrollment of 394 pupils in grades 9th through 12th, with 59 pupils eligible for a federal free or reduced-price lunch. The school employed 38 teachers, yielding a student–teacher ratio of 10:1. According to a report by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, 100% of its teachers were rated "Highly Qualified" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. In 2011 and 2010 the school achieved AYP status. |
491_4 | College remediation
According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study released in January 2009, 35% of Avonworth School District graduates required remediation in mathematics and or reading before they were prepared to take college level courses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education or community colleges. Less than 66% of Pennsylvania high school graduates, who enroll in a four-year college in Pennsylvania, will earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Among Pennsylvania high school graduates pursuing an associate degree, only one in three graduate in three years. Per the Pennsylvania Department of Education, one in three recent high school graduates who attend Pennsylvania's public universities and community colleges takes at least one remedial course in math, reading or English. |
491_5 | Dual enrollment |
491_6 | The high school offers a dual enrollment program. This state program permits high school students to take courses, at local higher education institutions, to earn college credits. Students remain enrolled at their high school. The courses count towards high school graduation requirements and towards earning a college degree. The students continue to have full access to activities and programs at their high school, including the graduation ceremony. The college credits are offered at a deeply discounted rate. The state offers a small grant to assist students in costs for tuition, fees and books. Under the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement, many Pennsylvania colleges and universities accept these credits for students who transfer to their institutions. The Pennsylvania College Credit Transfer System reported in 2009, that students saved nearly $35.4 million by having their transferred credits count towards a degree under the new system. For the 2009–10 funding year, the |
491_7 | school district received a state grant of $1,839 for the program. |
491_8 | Graduation requirements
By law, all Pennsylvania secondary school students must complete a project as a part of their eligibility to graduate from high school. The type of project, its rigor and its expectations are set by the individual school district.
By Pennsylvania School Board regulations, for the graduating class of 2016, students must demonstrate successful completion of secondary level course work in Algebra I, Biology, English Composition, and Literature for which the Keystone Exams serve as the final course exams. Students’ Keystone Exam scores shall count for at least one-third of the final course grade. |
491_9 | SAT scores
From January to June 2011, 80 Avonworth students took the SAT exams. The district's Verbal Average Score was 526. The Math average score was 543. The Writing average score was 515. Pennsylvania ranked 40th among states with SAT scores: Verbal - 493, Math - 501, Writing - 479. In the United States, 1.65 million students took the exam in 2011. They averaged 497 (out of 800) verbal, 514 math and 489 in writing. |
491_10 | Middle school
Avonworth Middle School is located at 256 Josephs Lane, Pittsburgh. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2010, the school reported an enrollment of 308 pupils in grades 6th through 8th, with 39 pupils receiving a federal free or reduced-price lunch due to family poverty. The school employed 23 teachers, yielding a student–teacher ratio of 13:1. According to a report by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, 100% of its teachers were rated "Highly Qualified" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. In 2011 and 2010, Avonworth Middle School achieved AYP status. |
491_11 | In 2009 and 2012, the Avonworth Middle School was named a School to Watch by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. The recognition goes to schools that are: academically excellent by challenging all students, are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence and are democratic and fair, providing every student with high-quality teachers, resources, and supports. Schools must apply for this recognition. |
491_12 | Elementary school
Avonworth Elementary School is located at 1320 Roosevelt Road, Pittsburgh. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2010, the school reported an enrollment of 704 pupils in grades kindergarten through 5th, with 60 pupils receiving a federal free or reduced-price lunch due to family poverty. The school employed 53 teachers, yielding a student–teacher ratio of 13:1. According to a report by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, teachers were rated "Non‐Highly Qualified" under No Child Left Behind. In 2010 and 2011, Avonworth Elementary School achieved AYP status. In 2011, 84% of the students were reading on grade level in grades 3rd through 5th. In math, 89% of the students in 3rd through 6th grades were on grade level and 63% scored advanced. In 4th grade science, 92% of the pupils were on grade level. |
491_13 | Special education
In December 2010, the district administration reported that 110 pupils or 7.6% of the district's pupils received Special Education services, with 50% of the identified students having a specific learning disability. In December 2009, the Administration reported that 156 pupils or 11.1% of the district's pupils received Special Education services. |
491_14 | In order to comply with state and federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act rules and regulations, the school district engages in identification procedures to ensure that eligible students receive an appropriate educational program consisting of special education and related services, individualized to meet student needs. At no cost to the parents, these services are provided in compliance with state and federal law; and are reasonably calculated to yield meaningful educational benefit and student progress . To identify students who may be eligible for special education services, various screening activities are conducted on an ongoing basis. These screening activities include: review of group-based data (cumulative records, enrollment records, health records, report cards, ability and achievement test scores); hearing, vision, motor, and speech/language screening; and review by the Special Education administration. When screening results suggest that the student may be |
491_15 | eligible, the District seeks parental consent to conduct a multidisciplinary evaluation. Parents who suspect their child is eligible may verbally request a multidisciplinary evaluation from a professional employee of the District or contact the district's Special Education Department. Avonworth School District has agreements with Glade Run Lutheran Services and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit #3 for special education services. |
491_16 | In 2010, the state of Pennsylvania provided $1,026,815,000 for special education services. This funding is in addition to the state's basic education per pupil funding, as well as, all other state and federal funding. The Pennsylvania Special Education funding system assumes that 16% of the district's students receive special education services. It also assumes that each student's needs accrue the same level of costs. The state requires each district to have a three-year special education plan to meet the unique needs of its special education students. Overidentification of students, in order to increase state funding, has been an issue in the Commonwealth. Some districts have more than 20% of its students receiving special education services while others have less than 10% supported through special education services, like Avonworth School District. |
491_17 | Avonworth School District received a $679,188 supplement for special education services in 2010. For the 2011–12 and 2012–13 school year, all Pennsylvania public school districts received the same level of funding for special education that they received in 2010–11. This level funding is provided regardless of changes in the number of pupils who need special education services and regardless of the level of services the respective students required. |
491_18 | Gifted education
The District Administration reported that 93 or 6.83% of its students were gifted in 2009. The highest percentage of gifted students reported among all 500 school districts and 100 public charter schools in Pennsylvania was North Allegheny School District with 15.5% of its students identified as gifted. By law, the district must provide mentally gifted programs at all grade levels. The referral process for a gifted evaluation can be initiated by teachers or parents by contacting the student's building principal and requesting an evaluation. All requests must be made in writing. To be eligible for mentally gifted programs in Pennsylvania, a student must have a cognitive ability of at least 130 as measured on a standardized ability test by a certified school psychologist. Other factors that indicate giftedness will also be considered for eligibility. |
491_19 | Budget
In 2011, the average teacher salary in Avonworth School District was $58,179.61 a year, while the cost of the benefits teachers receive was $16,277.69 per employee, for a total annual average teacher compensation of $74,457.30. According to a study conducted at the American Enterprise Institute, in 2011, public school teachers’ total compensation is roughly 50 percent higher than they would likely receive in the private sector. The study found that the most generous benefits that teachers receive are not accounted for in many studies of compensation, including: pension, retiree health benefits and job security.
In 2007, the district employed 85 teachers with the average teacher salary in the district at $53,238 for 180 days worked. |
491_20 | The district administrative costs in 2008 were $800.02 per pupil. The lowest administrative cost per pupil in Pennsylvania was $398 per pupil. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association keeps statistics on salaries of public school district employees in Pennsylvania. According to the association's report, the average salary for a superintendent for the 2007–08 school year was $122,165. Superintendents and administrators receive a benefit package commensurate with that offered to the district's teachers' union.
Reserves In 2008, the district reported an unreserved designated fund balance of zero and an unreserved-undesignated fund balance of $2,604,070.00. |
491_21 | The district is funded by a combination of: a local earned income tax, a property tax, a real estate transfer tax, coupled with substantial funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the federal government. Grants can provide an opportunity to supplement school funding without raising local taxes. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pension and Social Security income are exempted from state personal income tax and local earned income tax, regardless of the income level.
State basic education funding
In 2011–12, the district will receive $2,347,240 in state Basic Education Funding. Additionally, the district will receive $32,268 in Accountability Block Grant funding. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, 137 students received free or reduced-price lunches due to low family income in the 2010–11 school year. |
491_22 | For the 2010-11 budget year the Avonworth School District received a 2% increase in state basic education funding for a total of $2,442,068. In Dauphin County, the highest increase went to South Fayette Township School District which received an 11.32% increase in state funding. One hundred fifty school districts in Pennsylvania received a 2% base increase for budget year 2010–11. The highest increase in the state was given to Kennett Consolidated School District of Chester County which was given a 23.65% increase in state funding. |
491_23 | In the 2009–2010 budget year the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provided a 2% increase in Basic Education funding for a total of $2,394,184. This was the lowest percentage point increase, in Basic Education Funding, for the school districts in Allegheny County and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Four county school districts received increases of over 6% in Basic Education Funding in 2008–10. Chartiers Valley School District received an 8.17% increase. In Pennsylvania, over 15 school districts received Basic Education Funding increases in excess of 10% in 2009. Muhlenberg School District in Berks County received the highest with a 22.31% increase in funding. Seventy school districts received a base 2% increase. The state's Basic Education Funding to the Avonworth School District in 2008–09 was $2,347,239.65. The amount of increase each school district receives is determined by the Governor and the Secretary of Education through the allocation set in the budget proposal made in |
491_24 | February each year. |
491_25 | According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, 144 students received free or reduced-price lunches due to low family income in the 2007–2008 school year.
Accountability Block Grant
The state provides supplemental funding in the form of accountability block grants. The use of these funds is strictly focused on specific state approved student educational achievement uses. Avonworth School District uses its $87,584 to fund full-day kindergarten. These annual funds are in addition to the state's basic education funding. Schools Districts apply each year for Accountability Block Grants. In 2009-10 the state provided $271.4 million in Accountability Block grants. |
491_26 | Classrooms for the Future grant
The Classroom for the Future state program provided districts with hundreds of thousands of extra state funding to buy laptop computers for each core curriculum high school class (English, Science, History, Math) and paid for teacher training to optimize the computers use. The program was funded from 2006–2009. Avonworth School District was denied funding in 2006–07. In 2007–08, the district received $150,010. For the 2008–09, school year the district received $45,413 for a total of $195,423. Of the 501 public school districts in Pennsylvania, 447 of them received Classrooms for the Future grant awards. |
491_27 | Science It’s Elementary grant |
491_28 | Avonworth Elementary School successfully applied to participate and received a Science It's Elementary grant in 2008–09. For the 2008–09 school year, the program was offered in 143 schools reaching 2,847 teachers and 66,973 students across Pennsylvania. In 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Education initiated an effort to improve science instruction in the Commonwealth's public elementary schools. Called Science: It's Elementary, the program is a hands on instruction approach for elementary science classes that develops problem-solving and critical thinking skills. To encourage schools to adopt the program's standards aligned curriculum, the state provided a grant to cover the costs of materials and extensive mandatory teacher training. The district was required to develop a three-year implementation plan for the participating school. They had to appoint a district liaison who was paid $3000 by PDE to serve as the conduit of all information between the district and the Department |
491_29 | and its agents along with submitting orders and distributing supplies to implementing teachers. For the 2006-07 state education budget, $10 million was allocated. The 2006-07 State Education Budget provided $635 million in new spending for pre-K through 12th grades for the 2006–07 school year. This marks an 8-percent increase over 2005-06 public school funding. The grant program was expanded to $14.5 million in the 2008-09 budget. |
491_30 | Federal Stimulus grant
The district received $688,970 in ARRA – Federal Stimulus money to be used in specific programs like special education and meeting the academic needs of low-income students. This funding is for 2009–2011 school years.
Race to the Top grant
School district officials did not apply for the Race to the Top federal grant which would have brought the district hundreds of thousands of additional federal dollars for improving student academic achievement. Participation required the administration, the school board and the local teachers' union to sign an agreement to prioritize improving student academic success. In Pennsylvania, 120 public school districts and 56 charter schools agreed to participate. Pennsylvania was not approved in the first round of the grant. The failure of districts to agree to participate was cited as one reason that Pennsylvania was not approved. A second round of state RTTT application judging will occur in June 2010. |
491_31 | Consolidation
A proposal was made, by David Wassel, a prominent citizen, to consolidate Allegheny County school districts to save tax dollars, focus dollars on student achievement, and improve student services. The plan calls for a proposed district that includes: Avonworth School District and Northgate School District. The proposed district would serve the communities of: Avalon, Bellevue, Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights, Emsworth and Kilbuck. |
491_32 | Governor Edward Rendell proposed a consolidation of Pennsylvania's 500 school district to 100 with adjacent school districts, in each county. He suggested that the administrative cost savings be redirected to improving lagging reading, math and science achievement, to enriching the academic programs or to reducing residents' property taxes. A study of Pennsylvania public school spending, conducted by Standard and Poor's, found that consolidation of the administration with an adjacent school district would achieve substantial administrative cost savings for people in both communities. |
491_33 | Pennsylvania has one of the highest numbers of school districts in the nation. In Pennsylvania, 80% of the school districts serve student populations under 5,000, and 40% serve less than 2,000. Less than 95 of Pennsylvania's 501 school districts have enrollment below 1250 students, in 2007. This results in excessive school administration bureaucracy and not enough course diversity. In a survey of 88 superintendents of small districts, 42% of the respondents stated that they thought consolidation would save money without closing any schools.
Real estate taxes
Avonworth School Board set property tax rates in 2009–10 at 19.3000 mills. Property tax rates in 2008–2009 were set at 18.8000 mills. In 2007 the millage was set at 18.8000 mills. A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value. Irregular property reassessments have become a serious issue in the commonwealth as it creates a significant disparity in taxation within a community and across a region. |
491_34 | Act 1 Adjusted index |
491_35 | The Act 1 of 2006 Index regulates the rates at which each school district can raise property taxes in Pennsylvania. Districts are not allowed to raise taxes above that index unless they allow voters to vote by referendum, or they seek an exception from the state Department of Education. The base index for the 2010–2011 school year is 2.9 percent, but the Act 1 Index can be adjusted higher, depending on a number of factors, such as property values and the personal income of district residents. Act 1 included 10 exceptions, including: increasing pension costs, increases in special education costs, a catastrophe like a fire or flood, increase in health insurance costs for contracts in effect in 2006 or dwindling tax bases. The base index is the average of the percentage increase in the statewide average weekly wage, as determined by the PA Department of Labor and Industry, for the preceding calendar year and the percentage increase in the Employment Cost Index for Elementary and |
491_36 | Secondary Schools, as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the U.S. Department of Labor, for the previous 12-month period ending June 30. For a school district with a market value/personal income aid ratio (MV/PI AR) greater than 0.4000, its index equals the base index multiplied by the sum of .75 and its MV/PI AR for the current year. |
491_37 | The School District Adjusted Index for the Avonworth School District 2006–2007 through 2010–2011.
2006–07 – 3.9%, Base 3.9%
2007–08 – 3.4%, Base 3.4%
2008–09 – 4.4%, Base 4.4%
2009–10 – 4.1%, Base 4.1%
2010–11 – 2.9%, Base 2.9%
2011–12 – 1.4%, Base 1.4%
2012-13 - 1.7%, Base 1.7%
The Avonworth School Board applied for an exception to exceed the Act 1 index in 2010-11 due to escalating pension costs. |
491_38 | According to a state report, for the 2011–2012 school year budgets, 247 school districts adopted a resolution certifying that tax rates would not be increased above their index; 250 school districts adopted a preliminary budget. Of the 250 school districts that adopted a preliminary budget, 231 adopted real estate tax rates that exceeded their index. Tax rate increases in the other 19 school districts that adopted a preliminary budget did not exceed the school district's index. Of the districts who sought exceptions 221 used the pension costs exemption and 171 sought a Special Education costs exemption. Only 1 school district sought an exemption for Nonacademic School Construction Project, while 1 sought an exception for Electoral debt for school construction. |
491_39 | Avonworth School Board applied for an exception (pension obligations) to exceed the Act 1 index for the 2010-11 budget. The Board did not apply for any exceptions in 2009–10. In the Spring of 2010, 135 Pennsylvania school boards asked to exceed their adjusted index. Approval was granted to 133 of them and 128 sought an exception for pension costs increases. |
491_40 | Property tax relief |
491_41 | In 2010, property tax relief for 2,765 approved residents of Avonworth School District was set at $89. In 2009, the Homestead/Farmstead Property Tax Relief from gambling for the Avonworth School District was $92 per approved permanent primary residence. In the district, 2685 property owners applied for the tax relief. In Allegheny County, the highest tax relief went to Duquesne City School District which was set at $348. The highest property tax relief, among Pennsylvania school districts, went to the homesteads of Chester Upland School District of Delaware County which received $632 per approved homestead in 2010. This was the second year they received this amount. The relief was subtracted from the total annual school property tax bill. Property owners apply for the relief through the county Treasurer's office. Farmers can qualify for a farmstead exemption on building used for agricultural purposes. The farm must be at least 10 contiguous acres and must be the primary residence of |
491_42 | the owner. Farmers can qualify for both the homestead exemption and the farmstead exemption. In Allegheny County, 60% of eligible property owners applied for property tax relief in 2009. |
491_43 | Additionally, the Pennsylvania Property Tax/Rent Rebate program is provided for low income Pennsylvanians aged 65 and older; widows and widowers aged 50 and older; and people with disabilities age 18 and older. The income limit is $35,000 for homeowners. The maximum rebate for both homeowners and renters is $650. Applicants can exclude one-half (1/2) of their Social Security income, consequently people who have an income of substantially more than $35,000 may still qualify for a rebate. Individuals must apply annually for the rebate. This can be taken in addition to Homestead/Farmstead Property Tax Relief.
Property taxes in Pennsylvania are relatively high on a national scale. According to the Tax Foundation, Pennsylvania ranked 11th in the U.S. in 2008 in terms of property taxes paid as a percentage of home value (1.34%) and 12th in the country in terms of property taxes as a percentage of income (3.55%). |
491_44 | Wellness policy
The Avonworth School Board established a district student wellness policy in 2006 – Policy 246. The policy deals with nutritious meals served at school, the control of access to some foods and beverages during school hours, age appropriate nutrition education for all students, and physical education for students K-12. The policy is in response to state mandates and federal legislation (P.L. 108 – 265). The law dictates that each school district participating in a program authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq) or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq) "shall establish a local school wellness policy by School Year 2006." The Superintendent annually reports to the Board on the district's compliance with law and policies related to student wellness. |
491_45 | The legislation placed the responsibility of developing a wellness policy at the local level so the individual needs of each district can be addressed. According to the requirements for the Local Wellness Policy, school districts must set goals for nutrition education and physical education that are aligned with the Pennsylvania State Academic Standards for Health, Safety and Physical Education, campus food provision, and other school-based activities designed to promote student wellness. Additionally, districts were required to involve a broad group of individuals in policy development and to have a plan for measuring policy implementation. Districts were offered a choice of levels of implementation for limiting or prohibiting low nutrition foods on the school campus. In final implementation these regulations prohibit some foods and beverages on the school campus.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education required the district to submit a copy of the policy for approval. |
491_46 | Extracurriculars
The district offers a variety of clubs, activities and an extensive sports program. The Avonworth School Board determines eligibility to participate through board policy.
By Pennsylvania law, all K-12 students in the district, including those who attend a private nonpublic school, cyber charter school, charter school and those homeschooled, are eligible to participate in the extracurricular programs, including all athletics. They must meet the same eligibility rules as the students enrolled in the district's schools.
References
School districts in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Education in Pittsburgh area |
492_0 | Glass recycling is the processing of waste glass into usable products. Glass that is crushed or imploded and ready to be remelted is called cullet. There are two types of cullet: internal and external. Internal cullet is composed of defective products detected and rejected by a quality control process during the industrial process of glass manufacturing, transition phases of product changes (such as thickness and color changes) and production offcuts. External cullet is waste glass that has been collected or reprocessed with the purpose of recycling. External cullet (which can be pre- or post-consumer) is classified as waste. The word "cullet", when used in the context of end-of-waste, will always refer to external cullet. |
492_1 | To be recycled, glass waste needs to be purified and cleaned of contamination. Then, depending on the end use and local processing capabilities, it might also have to be separated into different sizes and colors. Many recyclers collect different colors of glass separately since glass retains its color after recycling. The most common colours used for consumer containers are clear (flint) glass, green glass, and brown (amber) glass. Glass is ideal for recycling since none of the material is degraded by normal use. |
492_2 | Many collection points have separate bins for clear (flint), green and brown (amber). Glass re-processors intending to make new glass containers require separation by color, because glass tends to retain its color after recycling. If the recycled glass is not going to be made into more glass, or if the glass re-processor uses newer optical sorting equipment, separation by color at the collection point may not be required. Heat-resistant glass, such as Pyrex or borosilicate glass, must not be part of the glass recycling stream, because even a small piece of such material will alter the viscosity of the fluid in the furnace at remelt.
Processing of external cullet
To be able to use external cullet in production, any contaminants should be removed as much as possible. Typical contaminations are:
Organics: Paper, plastics, caps, rings, PVB foils for flat glass
Inorganics: Stones, ceramics, porcelains
Metals: Ferrous and non-ferrous metals
Heat resistant and lead glass |
492_3 | Manpower or machinery can be used in different stages of purification. Since they melt at higher temperatures than glass, separation of inorganics, the removal of heat resistant glass and lead glass is critical. In the modern recycling facilities, dryer systems and optical sorting machines are used. The input material should be sized and cleaned for the highest efficiency in automatic sorting. More than one free fall or conveyor belt sorter can be used, depending on the requirements of the process. Different colors can be sorted by optical sorting machines.
Recycling into glass containers |
492_4 | Glass bottles and jars are infinitely recyclable. The use of recycled glass in manufacturing conserves raw materials and reduces energy consumption. Because the chemical energy required to melt the raw materials has already been expended, the use of cullet can significantly reduce energy consumption compared with manufacturing new glass from silica (SiO2), soda ash (Na2CO3), and lime (CaCO3). Soda lime glass from virgin raw materials theoretically requires approximately 2.671 GJ/tonne compared to 1.886 GJ/tonne to melt 100% glass cullet. As a general rule, every 10% increase in cullet usage results in an energy savings of 2–3% in the melting process, with a theoretical maximum potential of 30% energy saving. Every metric ton (1,000 kg) of waste glass recycled into new items saves of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere during the manufacture of new glass. |
492_5 | Recycling into other products
The use of the recycled glass as aggregate in concrete has become popular, with large-scale research on that application being carried out at Columbia University in New York. Recycled glass greatly enhances the aesthetic appeal of the concrete. Recent research has shown that concrete made with recycled glass aggregates have better long-term strength and better thermal insulation, due to the thermal properties of the glass aggregates. Glass which is not recycled, but crushed, reduces the volume of waste sent to landfill. Waste glass may also be kept out of landfill by using it for roadbed aggregate. |
492_6 | Glass aggregate, a mix of colors crushed to a small size, is substituted for pea gravel or crushed rock in many construction and utility projects, saving municipalities, such as the City of Tumwater, Washington Public Works, thousands of dollars (depending on the size of the project). Glass aggregate is not sharp to handle. In many cases, the state Department of Transportation has specifications for use, size and percentage of quantity for use. Common applications are as pipe bedding—placed around sewer, storm water or drinking water pipes, to transfer weight from the surface and protect the pipe. Another common use is as fill to bring the level of a concrete floor even with a foundation.
Other uses for recycled glass include:
Fiberglass insulation products
Ceramic production
As a flux in brick manufacture
Astroturf
Agriculture and landscape applications, such as top dressing, root zone material or golf bunker sand
Recycled glass countertops
As water filtration media
Abrasives |
492_7 | Mixed waste streams may be collected from materials recovery facilities or mechanical biological treatment systems. Some facilities can sort mixed waste streams into different colours using electro-optical sorting units.
By country
Europe
Germany
In 2004, Germany recycled 2.116 million tons of glass. Reusable glass or plastic (PET) bottles are available for many drinks, especially beer and carbonated water as well as soft drinks (Mehrwegflaschen). The deposit per bottle (Pfand) is €0.08-€0.15, compared to €0.25 for recyclable but not reusable plastic bottles. There is no deposit for glass bottles which do not get refilled.
Non-deposit bottles are collected in three colours: white, green and brown.
Netherlands
The first bottle bank for non-deposit bottles (glasbak) was installed in Zeist in 1972. Glass is collected in three colours: white, green and brown.
There is a deposit for reusable bottles when returned to supermarkets.
United Kingdom |
492_8 | Glass collection points, known as bottle banks are very common near shopping centres, at civic amenity sites and in local neighborhoods in the United Kingdom. The first bottle bank was introduced by Stanley Race CBE, then president of the Glass Manufacturers' Federation and Ron England in Barnsley on 6 June 1977. Development work was done by the DoE at Warren Spring Laboratory, Stevenage, (now AERA at Harwell) and Nazeing Glass Works, Broxbourne to prove if a usable glass product could be made from over 90% recycled glass. It was found necessary to use magnets to remove unwanted metal closures in the mixture.
Bottle banks commonly stand beside collection points for other recyclable waste like paper, metals and plastics. Local, municipal waste collectors usually have one central point for all types of waste in which large glass containers are located. There are now over 50,000 bottle banks in the United Kingdom, and 752,000 tons of glass are now recycled annually. |
492_9 | The waste recycling industry in the UK cannot consume all of the recycled container glass that will become available over the coming years, mainly due to the colour imbalance between that which is manufactured and that which is consumed. The UK imports much more green glass in the form of wine bottles than it uses, leading to a surplus amount for recycling.
The resulting surplus of green glass from imported bottles may be exported to producing countries, or used locally in the growing diversity of secondary end uses for recycled glass. , Cory Environmental were shipping glass cullet from the UK to Portugal.
Asia
India
Approximately 45% glass waste gets recycled each year.
North America |
492_10 | United States
Rates of recycling and methods of waste collection vary substantially across the United States because laws are written on the state or local level and large municipalities often have their own unique systems. Many cities do curbside recycling, meaning they collect household recyclable waste on a weekly or bi-weekly basis that residents set out in special containers in front of their homes and transported to a materials recovery facility. This is typically single-stream recycling, which creates an impure product and partly explains why, as of 2019, the US has a recycling rate of around 33% versus 90% in some European countries. |
492_11 | Apartment dwellers usually use shared containers that may be collected by the city or by private recycling companies which can have their own recycling rules. In some cases, glass is specifically separated into its own container because broken glass is a hazard to the people who later manually sort the co-mingled recyclables. Sorted recyclables are later sold to companies to be used in the manufacture of new products. |
492_12 | In 1971, the state of Oregon passed a law requiring buyers of carbonated beverages (such as beer and soda) to pay five cents per container (increased to ten cents in April 2017) as a deposit which would be refunded to anyone who returned the container for recycling. This law has since been copied in nine other states including New York and California. The abbreviations of states with deposit laws are printed on all qualifying bottles and cans. In states with these container deposit laws, most supermarkets automate the deposit refund process by providing machines which will count containers as they are inserted and then print credit vouchers that can be redeemed at the store for the number of containers returned. Small glass bottles (mostly beer) are broken, one-by-one, inside these deposit refund machines as the bottles are inserted. A large, wheeled hopper (very roughly 1.5 m by 1.5 m by 0.5 m) inside the machine collects the broken glass until it can be emptied by an employee. |
492_13 | Nationwide bottle refunds recover 80% of glass containers that require a deposit. |
492_14 | Major companies in the space include Strategic Materials, which purchases post-consumer glass for 47 facilities across the country. Strategic Materials has worked to correct misconceptions about glass recycling. Glass manufacturers such as Owens-Illinois ultimately include recycled glass in their product. The Glass Recycling Coalition is a group of companies and stakeholders working to improve glass recycling.
Oceania
Australia
In 2019, many Australian cities after decades of poor planning and minimum investment are winding back their glass recycling programmes in favour of plastic usage. |
492_15 | For many years, there was only one state in Australia with a return deposit scheme on glass containers. Other states had unsuccessfully tried to lobby for glass deposit schemes. More recently this situation has changed dramatically, with the original scheme in South Australia now joined by legislated container deposit schemes in New South Wales, Queensland, Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory, with schemes planned in Western Australia (2020), Tasmania (2022) and Victoria (2023).
Africa
South Africa
South Africa has an efficient returnable bottle system which includes beer, spirit and liquor bottles. Bottles and jars manufactured in South Africa contain at least 40% recycled glass. |
492_16 | Life Cycle Analysis
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is an important tool for ecological evaluation of products or processes. LCA is an internationally accepted standard (ISO 14040 & ISO 14044) and scientific tool that is used to quantify the environmental performance attributable to the different life stages of our products, including upstream stages such as raw material production and energy supply. Results are benchmarked based on LCA indicators with the final aim of identifying operational efficiencies and optimising product design while providing a higher level of environmental transparency.
The life-cycle of glass starts from extraction of raw materials, to distribution, use by final consumers to disposal/landfilling. In light of saving the economy and the environment, researchers are working to eliminate the linearity of this lifecycle to have a circular/closed loop life cycle where extraction of raw materials and landfilling after final consumption will be eliminated. |
492_17 | Glass takes up to millions of years to decompose in the environment and even more in landfill. Fortunately, glass 100% recyclable, making it a sustainable resource for producing new forms of packaging without relying on raw materials. The problem now is that only 70% of glasses are being collected for recycling (which is already good, but can be better). Its recyclability can hence be improved by improving its collection rate all around the world. The only way we can increase collection rate is to enlighten every single consumer of glass to properly dispose and speak up against improper disposal of this glass. |
492_18 | Cradle to cradle Analysis
The Cradle-to-Cradle analysis is an approach which evaluates a product’s overall sustainability across its entire life cycle. It expands the definition of design quality to include positive effects on economic, ecological and social health. The Cradle to cradle analysis of glass showed that the most impactful phase of a glass lifecycle is at its raw materials useage. Hence, why the sustainability of this product is focused on eliminating this stage of prosuction by recycling used glasses to make secondary raw materials.
Regulatory Framework
Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) establishes specific targets for the re-use and recycling of building waste, including glass. Defines high levels of recycling as key for Europe’s resource efficiency.
A ban on landfill disposal of single clear glass panes and insulating glass units should be introduced in the revised version of Directive 1999/31/EC. |
492_19 | ISO
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a non-governmental institution (established under the aegis of the UN) bridging public and private sectors. ISO is an international standard setter for “business, government and society,” through its pursuit of voluntary standards. These standards range from those dealing with size, clarity, and weights measures to the systems businesses ought to put in place to enhance customer satisfaction. Its work thus has an intimate impact on daily life by shaping and molding the way in which commerce is conducted, the operating procedures of business, and the way in which consumers engage with markets. |
492_20 | Some of this standard setting was the result of government and business agreement on product development; others were the consequence of commercial battles fought out over the most appropriate format. The organization boasts having developed more than 17,000 international standards in its 60-year history and claims that it is engaged in producing an additional 1,100 standards each year. ISO are usually put in consideration in lifecycle assessment of products. |
492_21 | The ISO 81.040 contains the international standards for glass. And It’s divides in four chapters.
81.040.01 Glass in general.
81.040.10 raw materials and raw glass.
81.040.20 Glass in building.
81.040.30 Glass products.
Other related ISO:
55.100 Bottles, pots, jars.
71.040.20 Laboratory glassware. |
492_22 | Circularity of glass
Glass Circularity is a concept that aims towards achieving Circular economy by closing the life-cycle loop of glass. Circularity of glass can be achieved via reuse of post-consumer glasses or it’s recycling to get a unique product that can be used for several other purposes. Circularity of glass can help minimize the use of raw materials (sand), generation of landfilled waste and pollution emissions. For every 10% increase in the amount of recycled glass, or cullet, that is used to make containers, CO2 emissions are reduced by 5% and the amount of energy needed goes down 3%.
Finely grounded recycled glass can be substituted for a portion of cement in concrete as fly ash and slag which if substituted, will help reduce the emission of CO2 given off as a by-product during concrete production. This can reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by 20-40%. |
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