Frederick County is trying to give glass recycling another chance.
On Tuesday, the county’s public works committee unanimously expressed support for resuming glass recycling at the Frederick County Regional Landfill.
In November of 2016, the committee and the county's Board of Supervisors agreed to suspend the glass recycling program due to the loss of a local market willing to accept the material.
The county’s recycler in 2016 would have charged the county a tipping fee of $72 per ton to continue glass recycling. Since the county recycled about 500 tons of glass per year, this would have been an additional charge of $36,000. The county also opted not to use glass as daily cover at the landfill because additional hauling costs would still be incurred only to have the material end up at the landfill.
Ever since glass recycling was discontinued, county residents have continued to request glass recycling services, and the county government has continually tried to explore alternatives for glass recycling.
Solid Waste Manager Gloria Puffinburger on Tuesday proposed an option to transport the county’s glass bottles from a single drop-off at the landfill’s citizens’ center at 146 Landfill Road to Fairfax County’s million-dollar crushing operation in Lorton.
Since its inception in October of 2019, Fairfax’s operation has collected and processed about 4 million pounds of glass from its own residents and municipalities in the Northern Virginia area. According to a memo Puffinburger provided the committee, the material was first used primarily as construction aggregate. However, the recycled glass is now also marketed for building insulation and cullet is sold and turned back into bottles by Owens-Illinois at its plants located in Danville and Toano.
Puffinburger and Public Works Director Joe Wilder proposed adding Frederick County to Fairfax County’s “Purple CanClub” — a program that involves renting two custom recycling containers from Fairfax County and paying all associated hauling costs and tipping fees. They estimated annual cost is $14,400 to participate in the program.
Once implemented, Frederick County residents would be able to drop off glass at the Regional Landfill and place them in the recycling containers.
“What we could do is say, ‘Okay, let's try it.’ Let's see how it goes,” Wilder told the committee. “I mean, if we find that it's something we want to expand, we'll come back and tell you, ‘Hey, we've got a great thing.’”
The committee agreed, by consensus, to start glass recycling at the landfill for a six-month trial period.
When contacted after the meeting, Wilder said a date is not set for when glass recycling would resume at the landfill, but he estimated it would be in about one or two months.
Also at the meeting, Puffinburger said the county in May awarded a two-year contract to Ridgerunner Container Service LLC (RCS) for the processing and marketing of the county’s recyclables (mixed paper, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles and jugs). RCS is not accepting glass from the county at this time, however.
Late last year, RCS erected a multi-million dollar materials recovery facility on Kent Street property formerly owned by the P.W. Plumly Lumber Corp. The facility has been accepting cardboard and mixed paper from the City of Winchester, Waste Management Inc. and Republic Services of Winchester for several months.
The county’s previous processor was Hagerstown, Maryland-based Apple Valley Waste. When the company could not accept any materials in March due to equipment failure and supply chain issues, RCS voluntarily accepted the county’s materials for processing at the same contract rate, avoiding a disruption in service for Frederick County residents.
Puffinburger said the two-year contract with Ridgerunner will begin on July 1. Wilder said reduced hauling costs in the contract will save the county about $125,000 a year.
