RE: [greenyes] Abandoning glass recycling?

["Patty Bates-Ballard" <pattyballard@no.address>]

I am new to this loop, so hello to everyone.  I work for a company that uses
post-use glass in terrazzo flooring.  In addition to our product, there are
a lot of uses for ?contaminated? (mixed color) glass, including
?glassphault?, filtration systems, backfill and storm water drainage
systems, sandblasting abrasive, fiberglass insulation, reflective paint,
marbles and costume jewelry.  Glass performs better than sand, gravel,
marble, etc. in many of these uses because it is smooth and angular, and
doesn?t produce harmful silica dust.  

We are really working to communicate with municipalities that are
considering suspending their glass recycling programs.  The alternative uses
are out there; it?s a matter of building markets or matching municipalities
with markets.  We are also encouraged to hear that New York found that their
suspension of glass recycling did not produce the savings anticipated, and
that they have restarted glass recycling.  Our position is that anything
that can be diverted from the landfill should be; just because it's not a
big percentage doesn't mean we should disregard it.  12-14 million tons of
glass waste a year is nothing to sneeze at.

-Patty 
  
Patty Bates-Ballard
Public Relations Director
EnviroGLAS Products, Inc.
214-373-1787
www.enviroglasproducts.com
"Treat the Earth well. It was not given to us by our parents; it was loaned
to us by our children."  -Ecologist Lee Talbot


on 11/3/04 11:34 AM, Alan Muller at amuller@no.address wrote:
A group working on a curbside program for Delaware has proposed a two stream
system in which residents would separate their wastes into recyclables, and
non-recyclables to be landfilled.  Part of the proposal is to have the users
put the glass into the non-recyclables.

Several reasons (or excuses) are offered for this, including:

(1) broken glass will contaminate the paper stream and reduce prices gotten
for it;

(2) recycling glass isn't profitable unless it's separated by color;

(3) the tonnage is relatively small and decreasing (as plastic containers
take over) and glass is OK to landfill as a stable material.

I would much appreciate some comment on this.

Regards,

Alan Muller

Alan Muller, Executive Director
Green Delaware
Box 69
Port Penn, DE 19731 USA
(302)834-3466
fax (302)836-3005
greendel@no.address
www.greendel.org

-Patty 
  
Patty Bates-Ballard
Writer/Inclusion Advocate
214-373-1787
www.korysmom.com 
  
"No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to
grow."  
-Alice Walker