Indiana County Opts Not to Build Glass Recycling Plant

Earlier this month the LaPorte County (Indiana) Solid Waste District rejected a plan to open and operate a facility that would recycle glass into tile and other decorative glass products. By a 5-0 vote, the board opted not to pursue the acquisition of the factory.

The county had considered acquiring the equipment from the plant that was closed, disassemble the equipment and ship it to the county. The facility filed for bankruptcy and closed before it even opened.

Linda Watters, director of the Solid Waste District, said that they promised there would be an answer within 120 days. “While the equipment was good,” Watters said, “there were some questions about the technology,“

The board was looking at purchasing the equipment for $1.3 million, and spend an additional $900,000 to ship it to LaPorte County.

The decision to pass on the project follows several months of discussion as the county toured the idled facility and performed research on the end markets, as well as the overall operations of the facility.

While the plan to relocate the glass recycling plant in LaPorte County has fallen through, Watters said directors are continuing to look at other viable operations for the county to operate. At the present time the county is in discussions with several other parties and other technologies about siting a glass recycling operation in the county.

While the main goal of building the facility would be to develop an end market for the glass collected by the county, the required volumes needed to supply a hoped-for facility would likely dictate the county take in material from regions outside the county, including material from the Chicagoland area.