Municipalities, nonprofits look for alternative glass recycling options

In January, nearly 20 municipalities in the greater Pittsburgh area removed glass from residential curbside recycling programs following a slew of changes in recycling contracts, including a $110 million contract with Waste Management, Houston, that lists glass as no longer being accepted curbside.

In response to the removal of glass from recycling programs in the South Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC), the area's oldest grassroots environmental organization, has launched a series of pop-up glass collection sites, sponsored by local government. Collection events are scheduled through June and will accept different colors and types of glass.

PRC is partnering with CAP Glass, the glass recycling division of Carry All Products, Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, on the glass recycling project. All glass collected from the pop-up sites will be shipped to the glass recycler, where glass will be prepared to mill specifications and reused to produce beer and liquor bottles and other consumer products.

“This exciting new program will ensure that glass is not trash, even if it can no longer be put out for curbside recycling in numerous municipalities due to recent changes in waste haulers’ contracts,” PRC co-executive director Justin Stockdale states.

According to PRC, Pennsylvania's three glass mills, as well as mills in Zanesville, Ohio; Toana, Virginia; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, rely on the region’s recycled glass to operate and manufacture new products.

Changes in the global recycling market, including China’s import ban on many commingled recyclable commodities, have led to glass being removed from curbside programs across the nation. Since the ban, which has spread to Southeast Asia, waste and recycling management companies in the U.S. have struggled with contamination at the curb coupled with not having the right processing equipment in place to properly recycle glass and mixed commodities from single-stream collection.

The slump has led governmental agencies, municipalities, manufacturers and service providers to consider working together to find alternative ways to recycle glass, in part, because demand and expectation to recycle glass is so high.

Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, one of the suburbs affected by the municipality’s new five-year contract with Waste Management, is looking into the market for glass and considering purchasing glass recycling equipment from a regional manufacturer.

Gilford, New Hampshire, a community switching to dual-stream collection, is also looking for alternative ways to recycle glass. The town recently asked residents to sort and recycle glass at a drop-off center. The town says it is considering working with nonprofit Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), which has offered to provide a mobile glass crusher to process excess glass collected at the drop-off.

Gilford says the recycled glass would be used in construction and road projects under the department of public works. The mobile glass crusher could also expand glass recycling services to other communities in the region.