How is glass typically separated for recycling purposes?

Glass is typically separated for recycling purposes by color. This method is crucial because different colors of glass can have different properties and applications when recycled. For instance, clear, green, and brown glass melt at different temperatures and can yield different end products.

When glass is collected for recycling, it's sorted to ensure that the glass cullet, which is the crushed glass used in the production of new glass items, maintains its color integrity. Mixing different colors can lead to contamination and reduced quality of the recycled product. As such, separating glass by color maximizes the quality of the recycled material and helps manufacturers create new products more efficiently.

While separating glass by type or size can also be beneficial for specific recycling processes, color plays a particularly important role in producing high-quality recycled glass. The other choices may be involved in varying contexts of recycling, but they do not specifically match the primary method used for glass recycling.