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Regulators and Recyclers Explore Possible Solutions for Glass

Dec 18, 2015, 15:53 PM by SPAN
The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) held a Glass Recycling Forum in Providence, RI in November, bringing regulators, collectors, processors, and manufacturers together to explore problems and possible solutions for glass recycling.

Regulators from state and local agencies across New England and surrounding states expressed regret at switching to single stream due to the high rates of contamination, particularly for paper and glass, and advised their colleagues to preserve dual stream where possible; dirty MRFs and one bin collection, when mentioned, where uniformly rejected as terrible ideas. Recyclers interested in pushing for a return to dual stream or investigating separate collection in their areas for paper and/or glass feedstock would likely find support. However, manufacturers in particular praised the quality of cullet from bottle bill states; this could lead to a renewed push for bottle bills in 2016.

Much of the conversation revolved around how to improve quality (suggestions included bottle bill legislation, public-private partnerships for separate glass pickup, and investments in different sorting techniques and technology) and find alternate uses for glass unsuitable for cullet, with processed glass aggregate (PGA) and the development of new specifications to cover other grades of material gathering the most interest. The presentations were heavy with potentially useful information such as average contamination rates for various materials, locations of glass processing facilities and MRFs across the nation, and potential energy savings from increased cullet usage in the manufacture of new glass; the slides are available on NERC's Archives page.