By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
It’s still not crystal clear, but it appears a solution is in sight for glass recycling to be resumed in Bowling Green and Wood County.
Last month, the Bowling Green Recycling Center announced that effective immediately, the facility would no longer be accepting glass. That applied to all the center’s locations, including the 24-hour drop-off site in Bowling Green, plus the satellite trailers and satellite facilities scattered throughout Wood County.
On Monday, the Wood County Solid Waste Management Board reviewed four options for glass recycling presented by Bill DenBesten, chairman of the Bowling Green Recycling Center.
On Tuesday, the Wood County Commissioners said they preferred “Proposal D,” which requires some buy in by both the city and county.
“This proposal focuses on keeping the overall costs as low as possible, sharing both risk and rewards with the county,” DenBesten stated. “It leverages the city’s offer to load glass at no charge to further reduce costs.
The plan calls for the following steps to occur:
- The recycling center will again start accepting glass in its drop-off and satellite sites, and schedule shipments with both the transport and glass processing companies.
- The city will make its old salt shed, next to the recycling center on North College Street, available for storage of glass in between shipments. The city will also use its equipment to load the glass into trucks to be transported.
- The county will be responsible for all charges billed by the hauler, who will invoice the county directly.
DenBesten said the recycling center is reluctant to start up glass recycling again if the city’s loan of the salt shed is just a temporary solution. But Joe Fawcett, assistant municipal administrator, said the city would be willing to let the salt shed be used for a couple years for glass storage in between shipments.
Mick Torok, of NAT Transportation in Bradner, said his company would be willing to continue the transports – but only if the recycling center can’t find another hauler.
“We didn’t make any money on it. We broke even,” Torok told the solid waste district board on Monday. “We’re not anxious to go back to hauling glass. If you can find another carrier, I wish you would.”
Glass for recycling is particularly difficult to haul since it is very important that a load not be contaminated. Glass collected in Bowling Green and throughout the county usually has to be transported every three to four weeks, when 22 to 23 tons are collected.
Signs posted now at recycling drop-off
The recycling center is preparing to have to do some catch up once glass recycling is started up again.
“I think we’re just listening today, and not making any decisions,” Wood County Commissioner Doris Herringshaw said during Monday’s meeting. “Yes, we want to reinstate glass recycling, but we want to make sure we have all our ducks in a row.”
But Torok cautioned the solid waste board to not wait too long.
“The longer it takes, the more phone calls we get,” he said. “Time is of the essence if you want to rescue the taxpayer.”
BGSU sustainability director, Nick Hennessey said that when the recycling center stopped taking glass, the glass drop-offs started growing at BGSU. “We’re interested in getting it resolved,” he said.
Herringshaw agreed. “We know there are people running around with trunk loads of empty wine bottles,” she said with a smile.
Wood County Administrator Andrew Kalmar predicted the glass recycling would resume sometime later this month.
Glass recycling has been a costly operation for some time. However, paying for glass to be landfilled isn’t cheap either – with dumping costs at about $40 a ton.
The recycling center had been sending glass from Wood County to a recycling site near Dayton. It was costing $30 a ton to ship the glass, for which it was paid $25 a ton. Late last year, the shipping costs were raised to $40 a ton, and payments were cut to $10 a ton.
The BG center then found a company in Sylvania to take the glass at no cost.
However, that agreement ended abruptly, leaving the Dayton site as the only option, said Ken Rieman, from the recycling center.
“It’s simple economics,” Rieman said, estimating the center shipped out 350 to 400 tons of glass a year. “We’ve been handling it at zero dollars. We carried it as long as we can – and probably longer than we should have.”
