Avondale Estates has announced that beginning Jan. 1 city residents can no longer recycle glass through the city since recycling providers Latham Home Sanitation will no longer accept glass bottles or jars.
Decatur also contracts with Latham but has a different arrangement according Decatur Assistant City Manager David Junger. For now Latham will continue taking Decatur’s glass to a processor.
“The problem,” Junger said, “is that right now glass isn’t a moneymaker. It’s cheaper to make new glass from sand than to recycle old glass.”
Junger admits that Latham may discontinue its Decatur arrangement when the current contract expires in June. If that happens, he’s considering four options:
— Quit recycling glass altogether which, Junger says, “I don’t’ want to do”;
— Have Latham collect glass in a separate truck which is more expensive (glass is currently mixed with other recyclables)
— Instead of contracting with an outside agency the city collects its own glass;
— Setting up drop off locations where residents drop off glass to be recycled.
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