What Happens to your Glass?

Glass recycling is proving to be a success story for both the Mackenzie District Council and the environment.

For the past six months all glass collected in the district has been going to EcoCentral in Christchurch for recycling.

EcoCentral procurement manager Averil Stevenson says the glass is delivered to EcoCentral’s recycling facility in Sockburn, Christchurch, where it is “re-engineered into EcoCrystal products used as pool filtration mediums, sandblasting products and soil enhancers”.

A Mackenzie District Council decision to introduce a separate blue bin for glass, instead of mixing glass in the same bin with other recyclables, has proven to be the right way to go.

Solid Waste manager Angie Taylor says the glass collected from residents is very clean, not only because people are very good at cleaning their glass jars and bottles, but also because it is collected in a separate crate rather than mixed in with other recycling.

“This means there is very little contamination with other recycling which makes it a more valuable resource and allows the glass to be more easily recycled,” she says. “I really appreciate how clean the glass is and I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to people who are taking the time to recycle their glass correctly.”

The council recycles about 20 tonnes of glass each month. Previously, large amounts of glass had been stockpiled with some being used in road construction. Under the new arrangement with EcoCentral more of the glass is recycled into new products.

Ms Taylor says the council is not paid for the glass it sends to EcoCentral, but it also does not need to pay to dispose of it. The motivation behind recycling is to keep the district free of rubbish and ensure resources are re-used rather than sent to landfill.

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