Beginning in January, glass will no longer be accepted for recycling. All of the waste haulers who submitted bids for next year’s contract would not accept glass, because of changes in the global market and also because the easily shattered glass embeds itself into other materials, which could contaminate an entire load of recycling.
Mt. Lebanon is looking into other options for recycling glass, but one of the major hurdles is the amount of glass recycled. Glass represents about 20 percent of Mt. Lebanon’s recycled material, averaging about 95,000 pounds of glass per month. The environmental sustainability board is exploring options for recycling glass and SHACOG is spearheading an effort to find a solution for the 18 South Hills communities all facing the same restrictions. Beginning in January 2019, glass items will no longer be accepted with recycling and all glass needs to go into the regular trash.