Becker County has another option for its glass recyclables

Glass is the weakest link in Becker County’s recycling chain — it’s heavy, expensive to transport, and doesn’t have a lot of value as a commodity.

“Glass is dense, heavy and hard to get rid of,” said Becker County Environmental Services Director Steve Skoog.

So far this year the county has shipped 560 tons (up from 429 tons last year) of jars, bottles and other glass recyclables to Strategic Materials, a company with national reach that operates a recycling facility in St. Paul.

There, the glass is fine-ground, sifted, run through magnets and vacuum systems to remove impurities and otherwise processed into usable material.

Companies buy it to make things like glass containers; fiberglass insulation; highway bead for reflective striping; abrasives (used to blast steel and aluminum and to restore everything from pre cast concrete to log homes to automobiles); as fillers in paints, flooring and caulking, as well as being used in lubricants and in metal fabrication work.

“It’s a huge place, they suck (glass recyclables) in from all over,” Skoog said.

Becker County is now “close to breaking even” on the cost of hauling its glass there, Skoog said.

So far this year, Becker County has spent about $21,000 to ship the glass and received about $12,500 for it, according to information from Skoog.

Last year, Becker County spent about $15,000 to ship its glass recyclables, and received about $10,600 in revenues for the commodity.

The amount of glass that flowed into the county recycling center this year ranged from a low of 19.6 tons in February (traditionally the lowest month) to a high of 57.8 tons in July, which is traditionally the highest-volume month.

But now there may be some competition for Becker County’s glass. Otter Tail County has started stockpiling recycled glass at a facility now under construction near the Fergus Falls Transfer Station, with the building expected to be open for business in a few months.

By early next year, that glass will start being used by the Otter Tail County Highway Department as part of the road base for road construction projects.

Neighbors like Becker County may be able to haul their recycled glass to Fergus Falls instead of St. Paul, potentially saving some money.

That could be the way to go. “It depends on economics,” Skoog said.

“They would stockpile it and use it on rural projects as needed,” he added.

The other thing to consider is how the recycled glass will be used. Skoog likes the way Strategic Materials turns old glass into a wide array of new products, as opposed to just “burying it in the roadbed.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. “As long as it’s clean, roadbed is an acceptable use for that commodity,” he said.