Avid recyclers can feel good about bringing glass to the recycling centre now that a market has been found for the product.
The Towns of Turner Valley, Okotoks and High River recently entered an agreement with TBM Logistics in Calgary where the company will ship clear glass products collected from the three communities to Moose Jaw and Oregon to be used for reflective materials on roads and traffic signs.
Previously, glass collected at the Oilfields Recycling Centre in Turner Valley, which serves Black Diamond, Turner Valley and the surrounding rural area, was transported to the Foothills Regional Landfill & Resource Recovery Centre due to a lack of market.
Now the facility has a separate bin for clear glass, said Todd Sharpe, Turner Valley chief administrative officer, adding TBM Logistics provided collection bins for each community.
“It will cut our glass recycling costs by better than half,” he said, adding it was about $2,400 a year. “The fact that we’re diverting it from the landfill and looking for better solutions for recycling is the key message here."
Although taxpayers will foot the bill to transport the glass from Turner Valley’s facility to Okotoks’, where the product will be picked up by TBM Logistics, Turner Valley's tipping fees at the landfill will drop significantly with clear glass being eliminated from the load, Sharpe said.
Town managers from Turner Valley estimate that about 13 of the 15 tonnes of glass going to the landfill annually was clear.
“There is no revenue side to this, this is simply finding an opportunity to divert from the landfill and a cost savings,” he said. “Recycling is about minimizing costs and diverting waste. While we have a social responsibility of diverting waste from the landfill we need to be mindful of the costs to taxpayers to do that.”
Sharpe said TBM Logistics reached out to the three Towns separately before a regional collaboration was established.
Okotoks is the managing partner, he said.
“Individually we weren’t able to provide enough glass to make it worth their while, but regionally we could,” he said. “While the recycling market is in such a state of influx there is minimal markets for glass.”
Craig Beaton, Turner Valley operations and facilities manager, said recyclers will see two separate bins for glass, one for clear glass and another for remaining glass products.
Despite several members of the public learning in recent months that glass collected at the Oilfields Recycling Facility was going to the landfill, Beaton said there has been no noticeable decrease in glass collection at the centre.
“It hasn’t appeared to cause any diversion, which is nice because we were hoping that the residents would continue with the program despite the fact that it was costing us to take it to landfill,” he said.
Beaton said staff is continuously looking for new suppliers and better and more efficient recycling opportunities.
“Everyone seems to be scrambling to find a solution,” he said. “Because we’re all in the same position I can easily see a market popping up where we can start using recycled materials locally. Unfortunately the market is not very close to home but hopefully in the coming years that will change and we’ll have a market here in the region that’s a little more cost efficient.”
Turner Valley resident Wayne Lapaire had approached Turner Valley council in January suggesting the Town stop accepting glass products due to his concerns of wasting water to rinse product that was going to the landfill. Residents had recently been asked to conserve water as Turner Valley’s raw water reservoir levels dropped below 70 per cent.
Lapaire’s suggestion, although supported by several Turner Valley councillors, was denied due to a lack of support from Black Diamond and the Foothills County councils, which are partners in the recycling facility. Both expressed concern that citizens would get out of the habit of recycling glass once a market is found.
Lapaire calls the new agreement with TBM Logistics “really good news.”
“Citizens want to see the product reused and turned into something that is going to be useful,” he said. “I call it a small win, but important win, in the recycling story. A lot of people are falling victim to the feel good recycling - you feel good because you’ve done your part in the first link of recycling, but if you’re a conscientious recycler you want to see the entire chain and the entire chain is your product is actually turned into something useful.”
