Experts Say There are Hurdles to Green Glass Recycling

Recycling green glass in the U.S. is kind of like the real estate market…it´s all about location, location, location.

“There´s probably plenty of need for green glass in the United States, overall,” said Craig London, CEO of glass recycler eCullet. “But if you make it in the mid-part [of the U.S.], it becomes difficult, if not impossible financially to get it someplace where they want it at a cost that makes sense to the buyers.”

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company specializes in removing contaminants and color-sorting broken glass from the single-stream recycling collection process. eCullet uses optical sorting technology to separate the glass, removing ceramics, porcelain and stone.

“One thing I think it´s important to realize is that people think of glass as a commodity,” London said. “The definition of a commodity is there´s no value added to whatever it is and it can be used in any part of the United States. And in a way, it´s not true with glass because I would consider glass as a regional commodity.”

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Source: Waste & Recycling News
By Shawn Wright