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cullet

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cul·​let | \ ˈkə-lət How to pronounce cullet (audio) \

Definition of cullet

: broken or refuse glass usually added to new material to facilitate melting in making glass

Examples of cullet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Glass in particular is a material that normally fetches a high price on the resale market when properly handled and transformed into cullet (the fancy name for recycled glass). — Tracey Lindeman, Fortune, "Recycling hasn’t changed in years, but America is on the cusp of a reckoning," 29 Jan. 2020 The cullet is melted in furnaces to create glass that goes into the millions of bottles needed by MillerCoors and Budweiser bottling plants in the state. — Aldo Svaldi, The Denver Post, "Colorado recyclers caught in chokehold of rising costs and falling commodity prices," 25 Aug. 2019 Momentum buys all the broken glass, cleans it, separates it by color, and refines it into what is called cullet. — Administrator_test, The Denver Post, "Denver recycled just 20 percent of its household waste in 2016," 5 Mar. 2017 The cullet will be delivered to Owens-Illinois’ bottlemaking plant in Windsor, about 20 miles down the road from the Budweiser brewery and partners with MillerCoors at Rocky Mountain Bottle Co. in Wheat Ridge. — The Denver Post, "This new Colorado glass recycling plant can process 80,000 tons a year," 3 Mar. 2017 Momentum's new facility now produces high-quality cullet for use in bottle manufacturing and in other industries. — The Denver Post, "This new Colorado glass recycling plant can process 80,000 tons a year," 3 Mar. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cullet.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of cullet

1817, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for cullet

perhaps from French cueillette act of gathering, from Latin collecta, from feminine of collectus, past participle of colligere

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Cite this Entry

“Cullet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cullet. Accessed 6 Mar. 2021.

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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cullet

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