Today is the last day Ark Regional Services in Laramie will accept glass for recycling.
The organization – which connects intellectually and developmentally disabled people with jobs, education and care – has run a recycling program to help subsidize its operations for 30 years. Although the city also runs a recycling program, the Ark has been the only local entity to recycle glass.
Glass can’t be recycled with other materials because it breaks easily and can contaminate the other materials. There’s a low market demand for glass, and the Ark says it loses about $35 dollars per ton of glass.
Laramie Solid Waste Manager Brooks Webb says people who want to recycle glass can take it to Cheyenne or Fort Collins.
“If you don’t’ want to do that, it can go in your normal trash container,” Webb says. “It does take up space at the landfill, but because it’s an inert material, it’s not going to hurt the ground water or anything like that.”
Webb says the City of Laramie is looking at the possibility of recycling glass in the future.