The lack of avenues for collected glass has forced a rural Virginia county from taking in the material at its drop-off center.
Michael Carter, public works director for Smyth County, Va., in western Virginia, said the lack of markets for the material has forced the county to halt accepting the material. Cater expects the county to stop taking in the glass by the end of this week.
The county has recently been shipping the collected glass to a facility in Winston-Salem, N.C. However, the processor began requiring the collected glass be crushed before taking in the material.
Carter says that the county, with a population of around 33,000, collected between 55-60 tons of glass a year.
The county will continue to collect and recycle paper, aluminum, plastic, magazines, newspapers, scrap metal and motor oil, he said.
Although some other Southwest Virginia localities continue to recycle glass, officials there say doing so is becoming difficult for them, too.