Re: [GreenYes] glass recovery from commingled curbside program

[Infinrecy@aol.com]

For another two cents worth:

Susan and Brenda are right on track with my thoughts about glass.  It's one 
of our materials that is infinitely recyclable.  It's refillable.  And it's 
packaging properties seem to be of the highest quality for good tasting food 
and drink.  If we're striving for zero waste, dumping glass in not in the 
equation.

I think that Brenda is approaching the subject correctly.  The trick is to 
collect it efficiently and effectively, dealing with the contamination and 
compaction issues.  We're small time so our curbside subscribers sort 
everything, including the colors of glass which we put into separate sections 
without worrying about breakage.  A truck that specializes in our discard 
stream really seems logical to preserve the value of the materials, keeping 
glass separate and compacting everything else, and the separated glass can by 
compacted/crushed separately.

It seems that the recycling service is too driven by trash haulers who have 
one type truck and one main objective of a max run with little value of the 
materials.  i have witnessed commingle programs where the collection people 
intentionally crashed the glass as the dumped it into the truck, even though 
the material was going to a MRF where the broken pieces were going to fall 
through a screen onto a conveyor heading to the trash.

This is a challenge to our endeavor but we should be able to skin this cat.

Ford Schumann
Infinity Recycling
Chestertown, MD
410-778-5949
www.infinityrecycling.org


<<Are you folks familiar with the expression 'highest and best use?" Glass is 
more than heavy - it is a highly recyclable packaging material.  ---  Susan


<< We can and ought to reuse and recycle glass.  It's a question of
balancing several goals:  having a cost-effective program, minimizing
the environmental impact of packaging production and consumption, aiming
for the highest and best use for the recovered material, maximizing
recovery levels, maximizing citizen participation in recovery programs,
and maximizing the quality and quantity of material recovered.  I lean
toward curbside combined with drop-off and a deposit system (and
ultimately a refilling/standardized bottle system) as the way to go.
The challenge is to design a curbside system that minimizes breakage,
maximizes convenience for the household, and keeps costs down.  Seattle
may be one model.  There's more than one way to skin a cat.  ---  Brenda

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