Jefferson County Public Works has announced that glass collection will resume on July 15 with two drop off locations: the County transfer station off Jacob Miller Road and the Quilcene Rural Drop Box just south of the US Forest Service Ranger Station on Highway 101.
Says Al Cairns, Solid Waste Manager, “We chose these two staffed sites for glass drop-off to lower the rate of contamination in order to gain a higher commodity value and reduce the cost of the overall recycling program. Unstaffed sites have seen contamination rates of up to 30% and illegal dumping outside of the bins at those sites totaled 41 tons in 2024 which also adds to recycling program costs.”
According to Cairns, glass is the most expensive material type to recycle because of the high transportation costs due to material weight and because the commodity value is low. “At an average value of $15 per ton, recycled glass doesn’t even cover the transportation costs to get it to the buyer in Seattle. When the loads are highly contaminated the value drops even more. Presently the cost of recycling glass and the other materials accepted as part of the County’s recycling program are part of the rate paid for garbage disposal at the County’s solid waste facilities. We have a responsibility to those customers to reduce costs for the programs funded with the tipping fee.”
Filed under: Environmental Protection, Government, Jefferson County | Tagged: recycle |
Does “contaminated” mean mixed with other materials as opposed to not clean? I hope you can follow up with Al and advise everybody on this point.
Usually it means that it has been mixed with other glass that is not recyclable. For instance, green and blue glass at one point was not recyclable.
But you’ll have to check with the County on that issue.
This report provides only one side to the business of glass containers – the cost to tax payers. Cairns says that’s what concerns the county. But what about the costs (not just dollars) of mining raw materials, the energy (Btu) and labor used to manufacture? What is the comparison between glass and plastic containers? The pros and cons of trashing vs. recycling?
Humans are the only animal creating and using these vessels and the only species leaving them to degrade to sand and pebbles or to not degrade leaving them as forever trash on land, in sea, and in animals who die from ingesting or getting trapped. So what are the real long term costs of glass vs. plastic and the human responsibility for our behavior on the planet?