The City of Gulf Breeze is expected to temporarily halt glass recycling for residents until their contracted waste hauler can come up with a solution to a recycling issue they ran into late last year.
Allied Waste, the city’s waste hauler, ceased recycling initiatives last year after the private material recovery facility in Escambia County that they used to haul recyclables to closed.
The closure sparked Allied Waste to cease recycling pickup. After the closure, the provider continued to pick up recycling bins, but hauled the material to the Santa Rosa County Landfill, instead of having it sorted at a recycling facility.
Over the past several months, Allied Waste has been searching for a company who accepts recyclables, and was able to find one in Loxley, Ala. called Tarpon Paper. The only downside to the Alabama facility is that it does not take glass.
Meanwhile, Emerald Coast Utilities Authority is expected to open up a recycling sorting facility within the coming months that Allied Waste is expected to use. But until that facility is open and a contract is negotiated, the city is wanting to do away with glass recycling since the facility in Alabama cannot accept glass.
Gulf Breeze City Manager Edwin “Buz” Eddy sent a memo to city council back in June notifying them of the proposal.
“We believe we should keep the responsibility for recycling in the hands of our hauler,” Eddy said in the memo. “It seems to make the most sense to stop recycling glass and have Allied Waste haul the remaining materials to Tarpon Paper. The market for commodities gathered through recycling has dropped dramatically over the past several years.”
The recommendation was expected to move forward at Thursday night’s Executive Committee meeting (after South Santa Rosa News went to press). It is expected to be voted on by council members at their upcoming City Council meeting in August.
