By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – The City of Port Angeles is going to start recycling glass again but, at least for starters, you’ll have to drop it off in bins at one of the transfer stations.
Following a presentation from Interim Public Works Director Mike Healy, the City Council Tuesday night voted unanimously to pursue a pilot program that begins with entering contracts with Strategic Materials, a Seattle glass recycler, and a trucking contractor to haul the bins when they’re full. That process might take some time, so the program won’t be getting started overnight.
Healy said he expects the contracting process to go smoothly, but there could be a hitch in an unexpected area.
“I don’t think the contracts with either haulers or Seattle is going to be a problem. I think, where we may run into a snag, will be with the availability of steel to make the bins. You know, I understand that there may be some supply chain issues with those manufacturers on the steel end, but we’ll have to see.”
Recycling glass is not a money maker for any city. Healy said staff would submit a cost-of-services analysis later in the year but, based on the old numbers, he expects to have to make 2 or 3 trips to Seattle per month at $2,000 per load for a total of 26-$36,000, depending on citizen participation. Some of that expense would be offset by the fact that Strategic Materials pays for the glass. Healy estimated we’d get back roughly $7,000 for our glass during the pilot program.
That doesn’t exactly pencil out from a business standpoint, but Healy says that’s not the point of the program.
“You know, not everything you do, you do to break even or something. You do it because it’s right, and because your customers demand it. You know, Port Angeles has a tremendous environmental ethic, and I think it’s important to us to respond to that. So, whether you can make money or not, you know, we’re here to serve the public that entrusts us, and that’s a service that they want and it certainly is one that we’re going to do everything we can to provide. Because it’s the right thing to do.”
Healy said the long term goal of the program may not include having pick-up service at the curb, because having a dedicated truck for that usually comes with so much carbon emission that it offsets the purpose of recycling the glass in the first place. He does hope that participation levels are high enough that the City could someday soon begin adding more drop-off locations to make it more convenient.