By Susan Wineland
Orange Recycling Committee
The Orange Transfer Station and Recycling Center will soon have a glass recycling bin for all food-grade glass such as jars and bottles. Orange joins some of its neighboring towns and many across the state that are collecting glass separately at their transfer stations. A bin just for glass will be located next to the plastic bag shed.
The glass goes directly to local recycler Urban Mining CT, which began operating a first-of-its-kind waste glass processing facility in Beacon Falls in 2020. The plant can take up to 100,000 tons of waste glass annually, which is milled into a fine powder and then turned into a product called Pozzotive that creates stronger, longer-lasting concrete. The success of this enterprise relies on a readily available supply of waste glass.
Urban Mining has developed a new product that takes glass – a material that can be difficult and expensive to recycle – and turns it into a safer, more effective, and more sustainable carbon cement replacement.
Urban Mining says the environmental benefits of using recycled glass as a pozzolan (a class of materials used in concrete) are huge. Glass is made from readily-available domestic materials, such as sand, soda ash, limestone and “cullet,” the industry term for furnace-ready recycled glass. Recycled glass can be substituted for up to 95 percent of raw materials and is always needed because glass manufacturers require high-quality recycled container glass to meet market demands for new glass containers or new products such as Pozzotive. From a recycling perspective, glass collection is an effective solution for glass that often ends up thrown onto the sides of roadways or in landfills. Urban Mining’s Pozzotive is a safer, more sustainable material that dramatically reduces CO2 emissions by using a much less energy-intensive process than cement. Pozzolan also contains no crystalline silica, heavy metals or known carcinogens, making it a non-toxic material.
Separate glass recycling keeps glass out of the trash and from potentially contaminating other recyclables. Glass fragments can embed themselves into more valuable recyclables, like cardboard and paper, and paper recyclers won’t accept glass contamination in their fiber. Broken glass is also very hard on the equipment at recycling facilities.
Orange will save valuable tax dollars, as this program will be less expensive than paying for the cost of transporting single stream mixed recyclables.
As with all recycling, it’s important to follow the instructions to recycle acceptable glass items. Contamination of the glass container bin with unacceptable items may cost your town contamination fees. In order to recycle the glass at its highest value, recycle only unbroken beverage and food containers and jars, condiment bottles, and wine and liquor bottles.
Glass is designated recyclable by state law. Glass should not be disposed of in the trash. Redeemable bottles should be returned for their deposit value or at a local donation center that collects redeemable bottles for a local charity. However, unredeemed soda, beer and juice glass bottles are also accepted.
Unacceptable items will contaminate the entire truckload and may cause rejection of the entire load. Unacceptable items include mirrors, drinking glasses, ceramic cups/plates, crystal and light bulbs.
Spread the word about the benefits of glass recycling as an important end market for glass. This is recycling at its best: less waste and weight in the landfills, less contamination of the blue bins and local reuse.
Susan Wineland is a member of the Orange Recycling Committee.