Making Glass Recycling Work, part 2

April 11, 2017

Today’s article continues to explore glass recycling success stories presented in the Glass Recycling Coalition and NERC’s recent webinar, “Partnerships to Make Glass Recycling Work”.

Logan County, Ohio is a rural county with a population of 45,481. It has a single county solid waste district, a privately owned and operated landfill, and is a zero waste county. The County boasts a high recycling rate of 77%. And, its materials management system is very sustainable, with pay as you throw (PAYT) income about three times the cost of its operation, and the system bringing in 9% earnings from combined operations.

Like other communities around the country, Logan County had faced glass recycling challenges. The County built a dual stream materials recovery facility (MRF) to handle glass and other materials collected from drop-off centers and curbside. The County decided that a glass bunker set-up would best meet their needs to collect and market source separated glass.

The Logan County Ohio Glass Initiative was implemented to help turn glass recycling into a financial net-positive activity, as well as increase tonnages recycled and marketed. They collaborated with the Ohio Environmental Protecion Agency (Ohio EPA) to receive funding from the state’s glass recycling initiative in order to invest in new storage areas and truck loading equipment. The County also partnered with Rumpke Recycling to have their collected glass processed through its glass beneficiation operation.

The County currently receives about 10 tons per week of glass from municipal residential dual-stream curbside program, residential and commercial drop off dual-stream sites, and some limited commercial/institutional programs. Its glass recycling program has a 70% recovery rate, which is about twice the national average. The County hopes to double its collection with new single-stream, bar and restaurant routes.

Another glass recycler, Ripple Glass, is based in Kansas City and was founded through numerous partnerships with businesses, solid waste districts, and its end market user (Owens Corning). Their focus is on the recovery of glass through a network of residential drop-off collection sites, as well as from commercial establishments, including breweries. Ripple Glass also constructed a glass processing facility and started collection in 2009. The collected glass has low contamination, allowing for less operational liability at the processing facility. The glass is sent to Owens Corning to be manufactured into fiberglass insulation.

The core of Ripple’s glass recycling program is their drop-off network in the Kansas City, Missouri metro-area. The program is designed to make collection convenient for area residents, and boasts 100 collection sites, primarily located at liquor and grocery stores. The first 65 of the drop-off collection sites were funded by the Mid-America Regional Council Solid Waste Management District. Ripple credits much of the success of the program to its relationships with the site hosts. All sites are hosted at no cost; businesses view the drop-offs as both a way to help increase foot-traffic and as a community service. Ripple staff regularly monitor and maintain the sites.

 Ripple also worked with a design company to make their collection containers appealing for residents. Their purple containers were designed to stand out and be “fun,” as well as promote proper glass recycling. This has served to help keep litter around the site low and reduce contamination, benefiting both the company and their site hosts. As a result, the program has moved glass recycling in the Kansas City metro-area from 3% to more than 20%.

Additionally, more than 80 communities in eight Midwest states have now partnered with Ripple to expand or establish glass recycling. As with the Kansas City model, the glass is collected separately from other commodities through drop-off centers or from commercial establishments. When possible, Ripple arranges for empty back haul trucking to keep shipping costs down.

Ripple has found that keeping glass separate allows for the economics of the program, including transportation to their Kansas City MRF, to work for them and their participant communities and businesses.

The program is also proving highly successful for participant communities.

In Springfield, Missouri, glass recycling has increased 24% in five years through its residential drop-off centers and a free downtown business recycling program. Branson, Missouri now has a 53% capture rate in its glass recycling program for residents, as well as hotels, bars, and restaurants. The city has a high percentage of tourists, so it has started a unique outreach effort to capture glass from visitors to the city. Fayetteville, Arkansas also has a high 50% collection rate for glass. Residential glass is collected curbside; the driver sorts the glass into a separate compartment in the collection vehicle. Bar and restaurant glass is collected separately in 2-cubic yard containers; the city collects the glass at no cost to its businesses.

Ripple offered the following lessons learned:

• One size doesn’t fit all—work with the glass end users closely when setting up the program—“reverse engineer” the collection system and MRF processing to meet their needs and ensure a successful  ongoing relationship.
• Be innovative—work with community partners to use the existing equipment and containers they already have, in order to keep costs low.
• Build partnerships with solid waste districts, communities, and businesses.

The webinar was very insightful, including the Q&A session at the end. Check out the recording for more details.

By Athena Lee Bradley