Glass Recycling
Where can I recycle my glass?
There are several bins outside Honest Weight Food Co-op (100 Watervliet Ave, Albany, NY 12206) to the right of the main entrance, available 24/7 for drop off!
Clear glass ONLY into the blue bins; blue/green glass ONLY into green bins.
Why is Zero Waste Capital District recycling glass?
Zero Waste Capital District has decided to organize a dedicated glass recycling program because most glass in single stream recycling ends up in the landfill. Occasionally, glass originally intended for recycling is crushed and made into roads / landfill cover, but it is not truly recycled into other products.
The glass we collect at Honest Weight is taken by TOMRA Company and brought to a facility that creates other glass containers, as well as fiberglass and road cover.
How can I contribute?
The program that Zero Waste Capital District feeds into handles 35 tons of glass daily. For this program to succeed, we're counting on participants to make sure that glass enters the recycling stream free of other (plastic, metal, food) contaminants.
We want to keep this glass stream as clean as possible so that TOMRA will continue to want to collect and recycle glass from this location.
Here's a list of do's and don'ts for our glass recycling program:
DO
Clear glass in BLUE BINS
Blue/green glass in GREEN BINS
Non-deposit soda & beer bottles
Pickle, mayonnaise, salsa, etc. jars
Paper labels are okay
Rinse your bottles!
DON'T
We do not accept other types of glass such as: mirrors, windows, vases, cookware, drinking and/or wine glasses (other types of glass have differing melting points)
Please do not include lids, and remove plastic/metal rings around the neck of the bottle
Please remove any plastic labels
Please DON'T put the wrong color glass into the incorrect bin.
For more information about this recycling program and how glass recycling in the U.S. works, read "But Wait a Minute... Don't We Already Recycle Glass?" by Justin Hardecker.
