BRATTLEBORO — To reduce the increasingly high costs of recycling, the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) has reinstated a program to separate glass bottles and jars from single stream.
Starting this week, users of the district transfer station on Old Ferry Road will find a separate container for glass bottles and jars only, without lids.
According to WSWMD Executive Director Robert Spencer, the new program is significantly less costly at $40 per ton, plus trucking. WSWMD will haul the 30 cubic yard roll-off container of glass to the town of Springfield's highway garage, where the glass is ground into an aggregate that is used locally for building and road construction.
Spencer said in a news release that WSWMD collects approximately 300 tons per year of single stream recycling, and the previous glass diversion program diverted almost 70 tons per year, saving about $100 per ton. The new program is expected to divert similar quantities and save even more to the higher cost of single stream recycling.
Until two years ago, Spencer said WSWMD had a successful glass recycling to fiberglass program, but had to stop due to the low tolerance of the fiberglass manufacturing process for contamination with other types of glass, such as ceramics, (1)candles, and beverage glasses.
According to Spencer, the cost for single stream recycling has more than doubled since July, with the tipping fee that Casella Waste Systems charges at its materials recycling facility in Rutland, going from $57 per ton to $123 per ton in October.
The hauling costs from Brattleboro to Rutland have also increased significantly in the past few months, Spencer said, and now adds an additional $117.50 per ton for a total cost of $240.50 per ton.
By comparison, Spencer said the cost for trash disposal, including hauling, is (2)$113.00 per ton.
Spencer said it is expected that the crushed and screened glass will be available to contractors in the region. For more information, visit windhamsolidwaste.org or call 802-257-0272.