A new glass recycling program kicked off Wednesday in Anchorage. Eco-friendly residents can now drop off glass at the Anchorage Recycling Center.
The program is a joint effort between the municipality and local recycling groups. One of them is Central Recycling Services, which is where all of the glass will be taken to from the collection site. CRS will crush the glass and grind it into small pieces, before turning it into pea-gravel to be used by local contractors for construction projects.
It has been more than three years since Anchorage had a local glass recycling service. The previous program ended in 2009.
"There has been a lot of people clamoring for glass recycling in Anchorage," said Mary Fisher, executive director of Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling, or ALPAR. "And people have been sorting up their glass so I think we'll get some glass from the last few weeks, months, years, who knows."
On the first day the program kicked off, some people dropping off recyclables at the center were excited to hear the news, others had known about it and prepared.
"We saved all this glass for the whole year so we wanted to drop it off," said Onni Tibor, who was there Wednesday morning to teach her son the importance of helping the environment. "it's really good they're able to find a way to reuse the glass."
Residents with curbside recycling service should not put glass into their bins. Glass can be dropped off at the Anchorage Recycling Center at 6161 Rosewood St.
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