Editorial: Curbside glass recycling should be countywide

Editorial: Curbside glass recycling should be countywide



Publication Date: 01/30/08


Curbside glass recycling returns to north St. Johns County as a pilot program effective Friday. It's cost-free to Seaboard Waste Systems' 31,000-plus customers.

The St. Johns County Commission recently approved the pilot and agreed to pay for it with $370,000 from the solid waste budget's reserves.

The pilot will run to Oct. 1.

If it proves successful, then curbside glass recycling countywide could be a reality by the 2009 fiscal year.

The municipalities of St. Augustine and St. Augustine Beach have had curbside glass recycling for years.

Advanced Disposal, the company that serves the southern part of the county, has said it's ready for curbside glass recycling, says Joe Stephenson, the county's public works director.

The pilot is in the northern county because residents of the area, particularly in Ponte Vedra Beach, have asked County Commission Chairman Tom Manuel and other government officials for it.

Curbside glass recycling went out of vogue in St. Johns County in 2003 when the County Commission found it was not cost effective.

In 2005, the County Commission affirmed the earlier decision.

Commissioners and customers then questioned whether the market for glass was worth the effort.

But times are changing and recycled glass is almost everywhere. Look around your home and neighborhood. Recycled glass is turning up in windows, walkways, counter tops, sports turf, tile and fiberglass, for example.

But we still have to ask if this is good for the environment or a "feel good" gesture?

Consider this response in a news release announcing the county's pilot program: "Every ton of recycled glass results in a ton of raw materials being saved and since glass does not lose its purity or quality, it can be reused indefinitely."

Stephenson said the county's evaluation of the pilot program will take into effect how much tonnage of glass is no longer in the county's landfills or transfer stations, where general household trash ends up.

The additional cost of curbside glass recycling could be around $15.36 per customer per year based on the expense of the pilot.

That's not bad. It's about the cost of two meals of burgers, fries, pies and sodas at a drive-in.

Seaboard customers, pile high those recycle bins with glass starting Friday.

We want curbside glass recycling back countywide by next year.

Its future depends on what you do.


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