While it’s unfortunate that the Jefferson County Transfer Station and landfill has concluded that it can no longer accept glass for recycling, it should not come as a surprise. Unlike far more valuable and easily reprocessed aluminum, the costs of sorting, transporting, and reprocessing glass into new containers far exceeds that incurred by starting with new sand. There really is no viable market for recycled glass.

But there is a solution that offers a use for our old glass containers that is far superior to simply burying it in the landfill, and which is much less costly than conventional recycling.

With modest investment in two pieces of relatively simple equipment, glass can first be crushed to the size of gravel, then tumbled to knock off the sharp edges. It need not be sorted by color, washed or sanitized first. The resultant product can then be easily mixed with asphalt and used for paving - Port Townsend streets have plenty of potholes needing attention - or can be mixed into concrete. Though such concrete is not suitable for highly stressed structural construction, it is ideal for sidewalks, patios, driveways or decorative uses. If pulverized all the way to the size of sand, though a more expensive process, it can yield a superior structural concrete as well.

A bit of innovation, rather than capitulation, may prove to be the better solution.

Mark Roye

Port Townsend