Re-used Roman rubbish: a thousand years of recycling glass

The suitability of glass for re-melting and recycling was widely exploited in the past. This paper reviews the evidence, particularly for the 1st millennium AD, using examples from Western Europe. For much of this period glass was produced on a large-scale at a relatively small number of specialised glassmaking sites, which supplied numerous dispersed workshops where glass was modified and shaped. This is only part of the picture however, because the glassmakers, glassworkers and consumers were also linked by a complex, interdependent cycle of supply, use, discard, salvage and re-use, making recycling an essential part of interpreting archaeological glass.