Ohio's three big consumers of recycled glass clearly have a problem when it comes to repurposing the material into insulation and bottles: The state's residents and businesses aren't recycling enough.
About 90 percent of glass containers end up in landfills, creating a shortfall of as much as 185,000 tons a year, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
A Rumpke facility in Dayton has more orders for recycled glass than it can fill. Fiberglass insulation makers Johns-Manville and Owens Corning say they could make good use, or reuse, of every bottle that is thrown away. And, bottle manufacturer Owens Brockway, also called Owens-Illinois, is making up its shortfall with recycled glass shipped in from Michigan and Pennsylvania.
"What we recognize in Ohio is that we have major manufacturers who are in need of glass, so this is an economic issue, a retaining jobs kind of issue," Ohio EPA recycling czar Terrie TerMeer told the Marion Star.
The state has been trying to encourage glass recycling by adding drop-off centers and getting bars and taverns to participate, TerMeer added. A business pilot program in Marion that has yielded 2.5 tons of glass per week could be expanded to Columbus and Cleveland.