Glass not being taken as recyclable anymore

[53' Stude]

The girlfriend tells me where she lives they no longer take glass in the recyclable container. I take mine to the local gigantic recycling center 12 minutes from me. Odd that we are supposed to recycle things like this, then counties/boroughs don’t want it.

 

[aquariuscsm]

That reminded me of taking my drained coolant to the parts store to recycle and they wouldn't take it. With all the world going hog wild about recycling everything and how we're destroying the planet,I find it amusing when someone refuses a "recyclable" when we're trying to recycle it. And the icing on the cake imo is that it was an automotive fluid that I was trying to recycle at an automotive parts store!! It wasn't like I was taking my vat of used cooking oil from my restaurant or something haha.

 

[chainblu]

My county doesn't recycle glass either. My mother lives in the next county, where they do, so when I visit her (once a week) I just take my glass with me. Shouldn't be this hard, though.

 

[Kestas]

This may have something to do with China not accepting any more containers of recyclables from the US.

On a broader note, I'm curious what we do with the recycled material.

 

[wwillson]

I have read that making new glass is cheaper than recycling old glass. I can also imagine that there are large stockpiles of collected used glass that they can't get rid of. Similar to paper and plastic.

 

[JC1]

Most of that plastic is collected and Sits on skids in huge piles. Its a shame the amount of waste we are creating globally.

Many places are rethinking their recycling programs. Too bad we couldn't get motor oil in bulk and just continue to reuse the jugs. I would be good with that if the price was right.

 

[4WD]

Most of that plastic is collected and Sits on skids in huge piles. Its a shame the amount of waste we are creating globally.

Many places are rethinking their recycling programs. Too bad we couldn't get motor oil in bulk and just continue to reuse the jugs. I would be good with that if the price was right.

Our city quit taking plastic … just cardboard … asked our daughter to order a couple of the laundry detergent strip/sheet products and will try those shortly … comes in small boxes …

 

[KGMtech]

Yes, the blame is on China deciding to stop being the world's garbage bin. The efforts now need to focus on making viable products from the waste items.

1st step is to make people aware of the problem.

 

[PimTac]

They stopped picking up glass here when they went to the large waste bins for recycle. Too much danger there. Glass can be dropped off at certain locations but those are dwindling too. I think most people are just putting it in regular garbage.

Other parts of the world have come up with ideas to use recycled materials. It seems the US is behind the times on that. Here is one example using crushed glass and plastics in asphalt mix for roads.

Recycling glass for use in asphalt

A novel operation in Australia is using recycled glass as a material for asphalt production.

www.worldhighways.com

 

[Egg_Head]

County where I live quietly mentioned about a year ago their recycling program was not working nor cost effective and many items collected were going to the dump for reasons already mentioned. Getting rid of a dead body is easier than recycling automotive coolant (kidding of course) around here. I had to carry mine to an auto dealership service department.

 

[PimTac]

Another point is how we purchase items. Elsewhere in the world consumers can buy refills of products ranging from soaps and detergents to ketchup and mustard. We don’t need another jug for laundry soap when a refill pack will do.

 

[tom slick]

I don’t know what is going on with the recycling market but I know a few things about the recycling industry. Everything is market driven, when they “stop recycling” materials it is caused by economics. That’s why polystyrene isn’t recycled much. It is very easy to recycle but it it costs more to handle the used material than it is worth.
Glass is one of the few 100% recyclable materials and it is very desirable to use recycled glass (cullet) in making new glass. It is less energy intensive to re-melt glass rather than create new glass from silica and processing glass with cullet requires less heat. Aluminum recycling economics is very similar to glass. That’s why glass and aluminum were commonly recycled long before other materials.
“Operation National Sword” put a damper on recycling sent to China but the market has adapted and other places have stepped up their processing. Waste plastic is worth about half of what it was paying in 2016 and they are much more strict about how “clean” the materials are.

 

[AutoMechanic]

I usually keep glass lol or just throw it away we have no recycling places around here. In the city it’s mandatory to recycle glass, cardboard and plastic but in the county it is not so they don’t give us the recycling cans like they do in the city.

 

[JT20]

I have read that making new glass is cheaper than recycling old glass. I can also imagine that there are large stockpiles of collected used glass that they can't get rid of. Similar to paper and plastic.

I think what you may be referring to is that Recycling is often cited as a horribly inefficient process?

I am Mr. Earth Day all day long, and I first scoffed when someone suggested Recycling was "a waste of time." Upstate NY, take your two-liters to Grand Union, put in the machine, get nickels back. No more, times they are a-changin?

We are wrechlking this planet so fast.

 

[MrPlow]

We save our glass jars and clean them out for storage. They can be reused in many ways. Just recently purchased a huge bag of lentils for super cheap and used a stack of old Kimchi glass bottles to store the lentils. Also work great for storing rice and other goods which prefer to have sealed storage but are not as critical in terms of canning and sealing, like one would expect to do for putting smoked salmon into glass jars.

 

[53' Stude]

JC1,KGMitch, OVERKILL and my Canadian comrades: don’t they pay you folks for glass bottles?

 

[MrPlow]

JC1,KGMitch, OVERKILL and my Canadian comrades: don’t they pay you folks for glass bottles?

I think it depends on the province? When I lived in BC, the surcharge on alcohol bottles was basically considered an indirect tax that helps the homeless people. Some of the regular guys pushing carts down our alley were making hundreds a week on collecting recyclables. It's a great system! Homeless have a legit way to make decent money, and the trash worth money is always picked up and never just sitting around.

 

[KGMtech]

JC1,KGMitch, OVERKILL and my Canadian comrades: don’t they pay you folks for glass bottles?

We get refunds on beer cans or bottles, wine and liquor bottles. The homeless collect these, but ironically the 1.5 litre wine bottles pay the same refund as the 750ml so the smart homeless leave the heavy & bulky bottles alone.

Cans or glass bottles of soda pop, or any plastic pop bottle don't have a deposit on them in Ontario, goes into the blue bins or slobs toss them out the window.

 

[MoneyJohn]

It seems the US is behind the times on that. Here is one example using crushed glass and plastics in asphalt mix for roads.

Recycling glass for use in asphalt

A novel operation in Australia is using recycled glass as a material for asphalt production.

www.worldhighways.com

This is so true.
A while ago, I watched a video of some British company where the guy watched people in India using plastic to patch potholes. They would just melt the plastic in the pothole. This guy fine-tuned the idea and made a mixture of tar and plastic. Turned out the road made is much more durable. We discard so much plastic, hopefully, someone will use this idea and make roads here.

 

[53' Stude]

KGMETCH: thank you for clarification. Cheers!