The first official 'glass deposit' into the storage bunker for the McDonough County glass recycling program, spearheaded by the Macomb Woman's Club, has taken place.
Since the official ribbon-cutting took place, the bin – which holds six tons of glass, or around 24,000 bottles and jars (which saves about 2.4 million watts of energy per full bin) – was emptied for the first time in September. The glass-only bin in the southwest corner of the Farm King parking lot (1620 E. Jackson St.). Waste Management of Macomb picks up the purple bin every two to three months and hauls the recyclable glass materials to a storage bunker on Tower Road. When the bunker is full, Ripple Glass will pick up the items for transport to its Chicago facility where the glass will get a new life as fiberglass insulation, new bottles, countertops and more.
'Thank you, McDonough County, for your wonderful response to the GFWC Woman's Club glass recycling project. We'd also like to express our appreciation to Farm King for being so supportive and allowing us to house the bin on their lot,' said Macomb Woman's Club Environmental Sub-Committee Co-Chair JoAnn Hairston- Jones.
'When the bin is full, it takes approximately an hour to load onto the Waste Management truck and dump the glass at the bunker. If you happen to stop by during that time and the bin is gone, rest assured, it will be back. We're working on signage and a way to notify the public when we have the bin scheduled to be dumped.'
Two grants - $53,000 from the Fellheimer Trust ($38k) and the Glass Recycling Foundation ($15k) - funded the start-up costs, which included Laverdiere Construction installing the concrete pad and 'bunker' on Tower Road to store glass items collected in Macomb for pick-up by Ripple Glass Recycling of Kansas City, MO. Ripple Glass provided the special glass-only purple bin for residents to drop off their glass recyclables, as well as providing the 'Slim Jim' containers to area bar and restaurants to participate in the glass recycling efforts.
Funding from a McDonough County Power Cooperative grant allows the Woman's Club to purchase additional 'Slim Jims' for participating businesses. To date, Chick's on the Square, J & B Windmill Tap in Industry, the Macomb Elks Lodge #1009, the Old Dairy, The Wine Sellers and VFW Post #1921 are taking part in the initiative. Several other businesses have expressed interest in participating in the glass recycling project, Hairston-Jones added.
Craig and Julia Burns, owners of The Wine Sellers, said they had been looking for a recycling option since they bought the business six years ago. As such, they were the first establishment to sign on.
'Finally having a place to recycle all of our glass is great,' they shared. 'We fill at least three of the 'Slim Jim' containers each week and it's a relief to know that it's not going into the landfill.' Emily Gamage, who owns The Old Dairy with her husband, Marc, added it's eye-opening to see how often their restaurant uses glass and seeing how quickly their glass recycling container fills.
'It becomes a little daunting when it's time to dump it, and then remembering to load it in the car at the end of the day, but I feel this really benefits the community toward moving forward with a green environment and freeing up space in our landfills,' she said.
To keep the program running efficiently, Hairston-Jones stressed that light bulbs of any type are not to be placed in the bin, and no bags of any kind (paper or plastic) should be tossed in the bins. In addition, ceramic-based products are not among the accepted glass items. Users are also reminded to close the bin doors after depositing their glassware.
For more information on the Macomb Women's Club and their various initiatives, visit macombwomansclub-gfwc. weebly.com. For more information about Ripple Glass and its recycling efforts, visit rippleglass.com.
