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I learned recently that mirror is mostly manufactured by pouring thin metal coating (i.e alumunium) on top of a substrate surface (i.e glass),

Due to the nature of this composition it cannot be easily disposed. I searched everywhere on how to recycle mirror and it always end up suggesting to recycle it physically (i.e artwork props etc.).

Assuming on industrial level mirror waste, how its getting recycled? I found no machine in market to do so.

My first thought will be separating the two in heat since both have different melting point, however not sure.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Transistor
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gardin
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1 Answers1

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The weight of aluminum is very small compared to the weight of glass , presumably primarily silicate . And aluminum oxide mixes very well with silicates so there is no reason to separate them . They cannot be separated by melting . The 0.001 " thick layer of aluminum will be completely oxidized before it melts . Clearly the cost of vacuum melting is prohibitive.

blacksmith37
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  • Thank you for the answer. However even though its very small (by a factor of >10 in compare to glass), the number can add up quickly in industrial scale. Does your answer suggesting there is currently _no way_ to recycle this? Not sure if rejected mirror simply disposed in landfill – gardin Jun 12 '21 at 01:07
  • @gardin Did you know steel is recycled this way? It doesn't matter if you have a ton of tramp metals mixed in when it is mixed into a thousand tons of steel. They just mix in virgin steel with the recycled stuff until the tramp metals are below tolerance. – DKNguyen Jun 12 '21 at 01:27
  • As for steel, yes i am aware. But i don't know how its relevant with the topic discussed, from my perspective silicate-aluminum sandwich is different than only metal juice (alloy) – gardin Jun 12 '21 at 01:40
  • See blacksmith37's answer for the silicate-aluminum mix. – DKNguyen Jun 12 '21 at 04:25
  • @blacksmith37 means no way to recycle it properly in industrial level? – gardin Jun 13 '21 at 08:05
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    @gardin Aluminium foils are already hard enough to recycle (because they mostly burn off when you try to melt them), and here you're talking about a _super thin_ foil bonded to glass. It's not a factor of 10, there's at least a couple hundred times more glass than the minuscule amount of metal. There's absolutely no way you could get it off and convert it to bulk metal without oxidizing the aluminium in the process. And oxidized aluminium is as good as useless, any random rock you pick up outside contains a significant amount of aluminium oxide. – TooTea Jun 14 '21 at 09:58
  • @TooTea Assuming i have the mirror waste in batches (>10 ton weekly), what would be your suggestion to make use of it then? – gardin Jun 14 '21 at 10:13