In 2022, Orange County Solid Waste Management (OCSW) announced the Glass on the Side (GoTS) system to improve financial and environmental results with glass recycling.
Presently, residential blue rollout bins include plastic, paper, cardboard, cans and glass. These comingled materials are sorted at a processing station. Glass is prone to breaking during collection and transportation, making it difficult to recover in the sorting process at the Materials Recovery Facility. There is waste generated averaging 40% of glass going to trash!
By collecting glass separately, GoTS produces a “clean” glass stream taken directly to a glass recycler in Wilson, NC and utilizing over 90%.
GoTS has a dedicated container at every county Convenience Center, ours being the Eubanks Road site. There is no residential pick up. Large generators of glass bottles such as bars and restaurants are provided with specific GoTS containers and picked up by the county. Residents must collect and transport on their own.
The amount of glass going in residential blue bins is not large per home, but hundreds and thousands of residents together generate a lot!
In February 2023, adjoining neighborhoods Webbwood and Spring Valley initiated an effort to collect glass separately, accumulate at one site and deliver to Eubanks when a 500 pound pickup truck load is justified. Over the past 2 plus years we’ve delivered an average 10,000 pounds annually to the GoTS effort, nearly 25,000 lbs. to date.
This is strictly a citizen voluntary effort, just people who prefer to see glass reused rather than buried somewhere. No money is involved. We’ve met with and discussed getting support from OCSW and the Town of Carrboro with no success so far.
You can find information about Orange County’s program here.
This article is part of a longer piece which can be found in OC Waste Matters.
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