November 21, 2012

It’s gone and it’s not coming back. Ripple Glass, the folks with the lovely purple glass recycling bins across town, came last Friday and unceremoniously yanked Historic Northeast’s only glass recycling bin from the parking lot here at the House of News, leaving residents scratching their heads wondering where to take their spent glass containers.

Even non-English speakers used the bin prolifically, often dumping large truckloads of empties in the bin on Monday mornings, sparing area landfills from thousands of Modelo Negro and Corona bottles.

The bottom line is it’s gone, and according to sources at Ripple Glass, it ain’t comin’ back. Apparently, our community didn’t drink enough to meet some nebulous new quota for Ripple Glass bins. (5.5 tons per month) Funny, in August of this year, the Ripple Glass folks lauded our bin, noting it took in roughly 5.4 tons per load versus the average per-ton load of 4.8 tons. By that time in 2012, our Ripple Glass bin had saved area landfills from almost 15 tons of glass. Yay us, right? Apparently not, given a big green truck hoisted our purple bin full of glass.  

Additionally, there was a very minor issue of foreign matter like boxes and trash sacks mixed in with the glass. I guess that created extra work for those who sort such refuse. Isn’t that what they get paid for anyway?  

Here’s the straight skinny. This newsdog is snarlin’ mad and thinks Ripple Glass should re-think their decision to pull Northeast’s only glass recycling facility. If it’s all about the warm fuzzy about sustainability and creating a greener, more earth friendly community, then the small stuff like foreign matter in the bin shouldn’t really matter, right? If you think so too, call Ripple Glass Executive Director Stacia Selk at (816) 221-4527 and let her know how you feel.