A city of Laramie task force identified collection and transportation as the two main impediments to a glass recycling program.
On Nov. 1, Ark Regional Services discontinued its glass recycling services — which were costing the nonprofit $10,000-$15,000 a year — leaving the county without a means for recycling glass.
City Manager Janine Jordan requested in November that a city of Laramie task force gather proposals and make recommendations for how the city can start a new program.
Brooks Webb, Solid Waste manager and member of the task force, said the recommendations are a work in progress.
Once finalized, the task force will present the recommendations to City Council during a work session on glass, currently planned for Jan. 14.
“There’s a lot of stuff we’re looking at, and it’s all going to come down to what’s the best for the city and the cost,” Webb said of the task force’s recommendations.
One of the main obstacles the task force is evaluating is how to collect glass, Webb said.
“There are a few different things we’re looking at, and that is, if we have collection points set up around town similar to what Ark was doing, and if we’re going to have the same amount, more or less collection sites,” he said. “Or, is it going to be a central location, like at the landfill, where we store and stockpile glass?”
The task force is also soliciting proposals from Waste Management and other trucking companies for cost of shipping glass to The MillerCoors plant near Denver — the main glass recycling facility for the front range.
“Really, the big challenge in Laramie is the transportation,” Webb said.
“Even with our single-stream recycling, our biggest cost is transportation. There’s no one here that processes that material.”
Based on the Ark’s volume of glass recycling, Webb estimates Laramie recycles roughly 250-260 tons of glass a year.
“We’re a small market,” he said. “You’re talking about other communities that are taking 5,000 tons to Coors a year. So our little bit is like a drop in the bucket, so I don’t know that we’re real high on the radar.”
Webb said the most cost-effective way to ship glass would likely be by truck.
“You get 20-25 tons on a truck, so you’re talking about 10 loads a year going out of Laramie,” he said.
He estimates shipping would cost about $400 a load.
One consideration is bulking glass with other area communities, such as Cheyenne or Fort Collins, Colo. Doing so, Webb said, could help offset the cost of transportation.
“The advantage with Waste Management is they already have a real good relationship with the Coors folks,” Webb said. “They could possibly bulk ours with the quantity they already have.”
Public Works Director Earl Smith said the task force is also considering means for putting the glass to various uses within the city, thus avoiding the need for shipping.
For example, the city could collect the glass and use it as daily cover material at the landfill, Smith said.
The city could also use the glass in construction materials, such as asphalt, he said.
There’s the option of collecting it in some way and using it as daily cover material out at the landfill and also re-using or repurposing glass in asphalt or some other construction material.
“It’s crushed and added in with the other aggregate, and it becomes part of your paving material,” he said. “There’s one local asphalt supplier that we’ve talked to, so it could be used locally if it’s cost effective,” he said.
Smith said the task force plans to gather as much information as possible before presenting to the council.
Webb said that based on what he’s heard, glass recycling is likely going to be an option, though there are a few details to be ironed out before an option is put forward.
“We want to offer some sort of glass recycling,” he said. “The final question is what is that going to look like? Is it going to be drop-off collection points like what Ark had? Or is it going to be a single drop-off site at the landfill. A lot of that is going to be determined by council at the work session, depending on costs and stuff like that. So, I think it’s going to happen, just based on what I’m hearing, but what it’s going to look like, I’m not sure yet.”
