Q: What are we going to do with the glass in our home trash? My trash disposal service no longer accepts glass for recycling, stating they are losing money because the price of glass has declined. Other trash services I called no longer accept glass for recycling. How are we to dispose of glass containers?
—Fran Downey, Acworth
A: With fewer private haulers accepting glass, recycling-conscious people may be forced to take the material to a drop-off point.
Earth 911’s recycling drop-off directory can be found here: search.earth911.com. Cobb County has drop-off info on its website (www.cobbcounty.org).
The price for many recycled materials is low right now, Gloria Hardegree, executive director of the Georgia Recycling Coalition, told Q&A on the News in an email: “All recycling markets fluctuate based on many situations, just like all other commodities. Market pricing is based mostly on the basic economic principles of supply and demand. Markets in general are currently flat across the board.”
Single-stream services – where people can place all their recyclable materials in one bin – have increased recycling rates, but experts say that’s also led to more contamination.
“The main issue with glass is breakage that causes contamination for processors,” Hardegree wrote. “The industry is searching for technological solutions, but with markets flat, contamination of recycling very high and packaging evolving, the cost of processing has increased, and the value of a ton is lower.”
People who recycle need to pay attention to the list of recyclable materials from their hauler, since adding non-recyclable items increases the cost of processing and force recyclers to dump some materials.
Allison Floyd with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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