Cherokee adds $30K to handle glass recycling

Cherokee County has added $30,000 to its budget to handle increased disposal costs due to glass at its recycling centers. AJC FILE

Cherokee County has added $30,000 to its budget to handle increased disposal costs due to glass at its recycling centers. AJC FILE

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners has amended its budget by $30,000 to cover higher disposal costs at its recycling centers due to the success of the county’s glass recycling program.

Waste haulers no longer take glass for single-stream recycling, so the county provides receptacles for this purpose at its recycling centers at 470 Blalock Road, Canton, and Hobgood Park, 6688 Bells Ferry Road, Woodstock. In the first six months of collections, residents have dropped off 100,000 pounds of glass, according to a public works staff report to the county board.

“Waste Management no longer accepts glass, but most households have a lot of glass they’d like to recycle,” County Manager Jerry W. Cooper told commissioners. “There’s certainly a supply of glass, and we’d like to continue that service for residents.”

The increased cost of glass recycling will be covered by the increase in related revenue, staff said.