Recycling talks stalled; N. Fulton city says glass goes in trash

Alpharetta residents would continue to put glass out with curbside recyclables, but in a separate container and at additional cost under a proposal being considered by the City Council. AJC FILE

Alpharetta residents would continue to put glass out with curbside recyclables, but in a separate container and at additional cost under a proposal being considered by the City Council. AJC FILE

Alpharetta's city council voted in April to keep the service of curbside glass recycling for its residents, but it would come at an extra cost.

But now, Alpharetta residents have just two choices after the city’s negotiations with its waste collection provider have stalled. Folks in this north Fulton city can either haul their glass to the recycling center in Roswell themselves, or throw it in the trash with other garbage.

James Drinkard, Alpharetta’s assistant city administrator, said the city’s finance director is working to get the best deal for the residents. In April, it was noted that to keep glass recycling would cost residents an extra $3 per month.

Drinkard thinks that price can be lower.

“The negotiations are delaying the launch of the glass recycling program,” he said.

The city says it believes that negotiations will be concluded this month and the new glass recycling program rolled out to customers in July.

For Alpharetta, the change in recycling comes after recycling companies began advising local governments that they would soon stop accepting single-stream recycling. While cardboard and paper are considered valuable, recycling companies say that glass can damage recycling equipment, produce shards that can injure workers and glass has a poor cost to revenue ratio to recycle.

Alpharetta is asking its residents to temporarily stop placing glass items in their recycling bins.

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