A $30,000 investment in more glass recycling bins for Palmerston North drop-off centres is expected to pay for itself within nine months.
The city council's finance and performance committee last night approved the spending on nine purpose-built bins to be based at Ferguson St and at the Awapuni recycling facilities.
Water and waste services manager Rob Green said the bins were like those recently introduced for the kerbside collection trucks, where drivers sorted glass into colours as they went.
The bins could then be transferred directly to trucks for delivery to Auckland for processing of the contents.
The chutes in place at Ferguson St emptied into bins that could not be trucked away immediately, and the glass had to be shifted to Awapuni for further handling and sorting in preparation for removal.
Only about 30 per cent of it was recovered fit for sale.
Under the new system, almost all of it would be sorted and kept separate from other colours.
Instead of the Ferguson St glass collection operation making an annual net loss of about $19,000, there would be a $22,000 profit - a $41,000 a year turnaround.
The committee needed no further convincing, and recommended the full council approve the change.
