HomeMy WebLinkAboutGlass Issue Paper1
March 18, 2025
ISSUE PAPER
Transporting Jefferson County Recycled Glass to Portland, Oregon
Statement of Issue: Cheaper imported glass, a downturn in demand from a large glass bottle buyer and
an unfavorable ruling from the US International Trade Commission led to the collapse of the regional
market for recycled glass in late September, 2024. Public Works exhausted storage capacity within two
weeks but continued to accept the material for two months at a loss of approximately $20,000 while
waiting for a new market to emerge. Following a workshop with the Board of County Commissioners,
broad public notice was given through multiple print, electronic and radio outlets that glass collection
would be suspended on December 1, 2024.
A “Glass Roundtable” was formed with a consultant hired by King County facilitating meetings of County
and City solid waste staff, recycled glass businesses, the Department of Ecology, and waste haulers
represented. These meetings have not produced a near-term or long-term solution.
Absent legislative action such as a “bottle bill” or deposit system such as the one in place in Oregon or
some other type of Extended Producer Responsibility bill, no long-term viable regional market for
recycled glass is likely to develop.
Public Works is not in the business of creating markets for recyclable materials but the Solid Waste
Manager has provided input to the Glass Roundtable, the Washington Association of Counties and local
entrepreneurs and EDC Team Jefferson. Despite the strong entrepreneurial spirit that Jefferson County
enjoys no local outlet for this material has materialized.
Analysis: The nearest outlet for Jefferson County’s post-consumer glass is the Glass to Glass recycling
facility in Portland, Oregon. Public Works solicited quotes from three qualified contractors for delivery
of an estimated 740 annual tons of glass to this buyer. Results of the request for quotes is shown below:
Fiscal Impact/Cost Benefit Analysis: The best measure of the virtue or “good” of recycling is the
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to landfilling. In 2020 Public Works used the
Environmental Protection Agency’s “Waste and Reduction Model” to make this comparison for each of
the material types accepted as part of the County’s recycling program. Staff also applied the cost of
recycling by material type to determine the cost per metric ton of CO2 emission (MTCO2E) reduction.
Glass was found to cost more than two times the next highest material cost per MTCO2E reduction
which was plastic.
Hauler Avg. Tons/Trip Annual Trips Cost per Trip Annual Cost
Hermann Brothers 24.5 30 2,100.00$ 63,428.57$
Waste Connections 22.5 33 2,000.00$ 65,777.78$
Skookum Declined to submit a quote
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Unlike plastic, glass is inert and non-toxic and poses no health risk. Glass makes up 3% of the combined
recycling and municipal solid waste stream.
The additional cost of delivering glass to the buyer in Portland, Oregon is not budgeted and would
require an increase to the per ton tipping fee of $6.00 based on 2024 solid waste tonnages as shown in
the table below:
A glass to Portland recycling scheme would create a per ton cost of $97.25 compared to the per ton rate
for transport and disposal at the regional landfill of $81.34 as shown in the table below:
This additional increase to the tipping fee would run counter to the efforts to keep the tipping fee as low
as possible and to gain access to the core service of garbage disposal for low-income residents through
the low-income discount program.
Recommendation: Public Works recommends against increasing the tipping fee to fund glass recycling
and for continued advocacy from the BoCC WSAC Legislative Steering Committee representative for a
bottle bill such as the current HB 1607 to gain a long-term viable regional market for glass.
Avg. Annual Transport Cost 64,603.17$
Revenue Loss 66,348.40$
Labor & Equipment 7,360.00$
Annual Cost 138,311.57$
Annual Cost divided by 23,725 tons 5.83$
Tipping Fee Increase For Glass to Portland
Avg. Annual Transport Cost 64,603.17$
Labor & Equipment 7,360.00$
Annual Cost 71,963.17$
Annual Cost divided by 740 tons 97.25$
Landfill Transport and Disposal Rate 81.34$
Recycling vs Landfill Cost per Ton