More than 150 local and state government representatives were eager for insights during a Making Glass Recycling Work in MRFs webinar recently hosted by the Glass Recycling Coalition. Cal Tigchelaar of Resource Management Companies and Rusty Angel from Machinex co-presented about the challenges and solutions for effectively managing and cleaning glass in single-stream material recovery facilities.
鈥淭he message for the past few years has put glass in the doldrums, but what we heard during this webinar is really encouraging for communities that want to recycle their glass,鈥� said Susie Gordon,聽 Waste Reduction & Recycling Program Manager for the City of Fort Collins, CO., who moderated the webinar. 鈥淥f course, it鈥檚 important to keep working on contamination issues, but we shoudn鈥檛 be intimidated about聽 being able to get glass cleaned up, especially when we learn the market is calling for more glass.鈥�
Making Glass Recycling Work in MRFs provided a behind-the-scenes look at single-stream MRFs equipped with technology to clean and capture quality glass. Attendees learned about how investments in single-stream MRF technology can pay for themselves with higher returns of recyclable glass. The presenters went into details about various options for end-markets and the growing demand for high-quality glass cullet (recycled glass).
鈥淪ingle-stream processing is challenging with or without the inclusion of glass but, like it or not, it is currently the collection and processing system of choice for residential materials鈥� said Cal Tigchelaar of Resource Management Companies.听 鈥淕iven the prevalence of single-stream collection and processing across the nation, at this time it is the most effective way to capture the residential glass stream in non-deposit State programs.听 The environmental benefit gained when recycling glass in bottle-to-bottle applications, fiberglass manufacturing, sandblast media, etc. outweighs the processing difficulties and low value of this material.鈥�
鈥淚t is important to us to reach out to recycling coordinators because many do not have the opportunity to tour MRFs first-hand to see what it takes to process the glass,鈥� said Erica Seibert of Emterra the Glass Champions committee chair and member of the Glass Recycling Coalition. 鈥淲e want to help equip communities with information about options and best practices for glass recovery so they can make decisions to benefit their communities and the environment.鈥�
The Glass Recycling Coalition encourages involvement with local Glass Champions who want to impact glass recycling in their communities positively. GRC provides a forum for municipalities to participate in initiatives like this webinar to help keep glass recycling in local collection programs.
Making Glass Recycling Work in MRFs Key Takeaways:
- 90% of Americans say they want to recycle glass according to a 2016 national poll by SurveyUSA
- Glass cleaning systems in MRFs are capable of cleaning 3-mix glass from 3/8″ to 2 1/4″ in size to provide better feedstock for further beneficiation
- There is currently a shortage of glass beneficiation capacity throughout the country
- MRFs that make a reasonable capital investment can create a sustainable business model that includes glass
- Significant market capacity exists to accept additional glass volumes
- Using glass cullet in place of virgin materials reduces carbon emissions, energy consumption and fusion loss in the bottle manufacturing and insulation manufacturing industries
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