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Kingsport is stopping its collection of glass because the material is losing its value.
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The city of Kingsport, Tenn., has offered free residential curbside collection for recyclables like paper, plastic and aluminum cans for more than 25 years. But, like many cities across the nation, Kingsport is stopping its collection of glass because the material is losing its value.
Residents are being urged to take their glass recyclables to various drop-off located maintained by Sullivan County, which plans on purchasing a pulverizer later this summer to transform glass into sand for use in concrete and asphalt.
In the last year, cities like Knoxville, Tenn., and New Orleans also stopped offering curbside collection for glass, and the city of Anchorage, Alaska, continued its struggle with glass recycling.
The Kingsport Times-News has more information:
For more than 25 years, the Model City has offered free curbside pickup for recyclables such as paper, plastic and aluminum cans, hauling in more than 3,200 tons of material last year.
And while most people might think glass is still on the list of items Kingsport recycles, it is not, with the reason being there’s simply not a market for it.
“Glass is not a high quality recyclable material,” said Ryan McReynolds, assistant city manager for operations. “It’s made of sand and it’s just not valuable. There’s too much supply and no demand for recycled glass.”
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