City of New Orleans to add glass recycling service

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The city of New Orleans has announced it will begin glass recycling in the French Quarter and the Downtown Development District (DDD) on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015. Empire Services, the City’s collection contractor in these areas, will begin collecting glass on Thursday of each week from properties eligible to receive sanitation services from the city. Eligible residents and small businesses can utilize blue or black bins with the imprinted recycling logo.

“We are pleased that Empire can now recycle glass for our customers in downtown New Orleans,” says Cynthia Sylvain-Lear, director of the city of New Orleans Sanitation Department.” We heard residents’ requests for glass recycling and are proud to deliver this service. Recycling benefits the environment and the city’s bottom line. The glass processor selected intends to recycle the product into highway and road aggregate material. The more residents recycle, the less we will have to pay in landfill costs.”

The city reports that residents and small businesses should continue to recycle paper, small metals, cardboard and plastics (Nos. 1 through 7) on the designated day. Residents can also purchase a second blue bin, to store glass separately from other recyclables, from a number of local stores, the city adds.

Eligible properties include those containing four units or less under one roof, not a hotel, restaurant or a bar and that generate no more than 35 gallons of solid waste at each regular collection.

The city points out that nationwide, glass has consistently presented challenges to collection companies, processors and cities. Instituting a second collection day is expected to eliminate this potential problem. In addition the city points out, having the second collection day is also necessary because the glass is taken to a different processor.