Nonmetallics Department

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has ordered Cougle’s Recycling Inc., a processing facility for glass, paper, plastic and other recyclables, to remove approximately 35,000 tons of unprocessed glass from its Hamburg facility in Berks County.

"The stockpiled glass has pushed through the property fence line and is now on adjoining property," Rachel S. Diamond, DEP’s southcentral regional director, says. "In addition, waste from the recycling activity is in a drainage swale and storm water from the property is impacting an intermittent stream."

The order requires the company to remove the stockpiled glass within three years, to begin immediate removal of the waste from the drainage swale and the property line and to maintain 10-foot buffer zones in these areas.

DEP issued a notice of violation to Cougle’s in 2002 for stockpiling the unprocessed glass. Follow-up inspections in April and October of 2003 documented continuing violations.

"Cougle’s installed new equipment in August 2003 to remove plastic and metal from the glass cullet, improving the quality of the processed glass," Diamond says.

In 2002, Californians bought an estimated 2.7 billion bottles of beer and another 700 million beverages sold in glass bottles. However, according to research released by the California Department of Conservation (DOC), Sacramento, nearly half of these beverage containers, worth more than $70 million in unclaimed California Refund Value (CRV) deposits, were thrown out rather than recycled.

The DOC has created a calculator on its Web site www.bottlesandcans.com that allows businesses to determine how much of the $70 million in CRV could be theirs if they were to recycle as well as what their waste hauling savings would be.

Through a relationship with the California Restaurant Association, DOC is working to educate the organization’s members on how to implement recycling programs successfully.