Facing a recycling crisis, Prince William wants to turn glass to stone

WOODBRIDGE — Prince William County needs a new place to toss its glass.

China’s recent recycling ban has led to a slowdown in recycling processes, and for the need for an alternative place to send recyclable materials. The country no longer accepts glass, plastic, paper,  and other materials it once imported from the U.S.

That left recycling processing plants searching for other buyers for the materials that need to be processed for reuse. And it’s got county officials seeing wondering if they can now turn the unwanted glass into something that can be used at a construction site.  

“Glass generally has fairly low value,” said Solid Waste Division Chief at Prince William County Tom Smith. “It’s made from the sand so it’s not like a product that has value intrinsically.”

Add in the fact that glass is expensive to transport, since it’s so heavy, that all makes recycling glass very difficult. “The glass is also very difficult to pull, separate, and keep clean for a recycling market,” Smith explained.

Some of the glass that leaves the county, actually, comes back because it’s too dirty.

Smith said his new plan is to try to have some drop off points at the county’s landfill on Route 234, and a composting facility on Balls Ford Road where they can keep the glass clean and then crush it up and make it into a stone that can be used for construction.

“We’re in the process of evaluating all these options and hopefully by the end of the month we’ll have a recommendation going to our board [to] make the changes,” Smith said. The Prince William County Board of County Supervisors will need to approve this change. Smith said will make his case before the Board on March 19.

More than glass, his staff is reviewing all recyclables being collected in the county, and looking at how they’re sold to recycling firms, and who wants to buy it.

“We’re looking right now to kind of determine what actually should be going in the recycling bins,” Smith said. “A lot of glass has been going to the landfills, even the past few years.”

Because of growth, the county also needs more drivers to transport recyclable materials. Smith hopes the county’s 2020 budget to be approved in April funds the new jobs.

“…We’re just having more material delivered to the landfill, even garbage.” Smith said. “…Just the volume of people and trash coming to those facilities has gone up.” Smith said this is due to more people living in the county. “…in order to keep up with the hauling and moving of material we ask for those two additional drivers.”

Currently, county residents who don’t otherwise have at-home trash service may take recyclables to the county landfill or a compost facility on Balls Ford Road.

That material then goes to the landfill and the recycling goes to the two recycling facilities that the county uses – American Recycling on Residency Road in Manassas, and Waste Management Recycling on Notes Drive near Manassas.