Recycler accepting unmarked glass jars

Reynolds Recycling, one of the state's largest recyclers of deposit beverage containers, has begun accepting and paying for glass containers not marked HI-5 now that the city is paying recyclers more for handling nondeposit glass.

Reynolds will pay 4 cents a pound for nondeposit, clean, empty, unbroken glass bottles and jars at any of its 33 Oahu redemption centers. That goes for everything from wine and hard-liquor bottles to jelly and cosmetic jars.

Restaurant owner Sun Min Shin, who dropped off a load of beer bottles at Reynolds' Kakaako location recently, said he welcomes the change, which began this month. His restaurant goes through about 40 bottles a night that would otherwise go in the trash.

"We only bring beer bottles," he said.

Terry Telfer, president of Reynolds Recycling, said, "This is an exciting expansion for us, as this makes glass recycling so much easier for the public."

The city informed all recyclers in November that it was increasing its payment for nondeposit glass containers, said Markus Owens of the city's Department of Environmental Services.

Recyclers receive 13 cents a pound for glass shipped to the mainland for remanufacture into glass, and 8 1/2 cents a pound for glass that remains in Hawaii and is used mainly for construction and agricultural applications, Owens said.

The recycler is required to pay customers a minimum of 4 cents a pound.

RRR Recycling Services is also one of a few companies that accepts nondeposit glass from the public, paying 4 cents a pound.

The city also contracts RRR Recycling to handle all the glass from curbside recycling. After the recycler charges the city a $49.75-per-ton processing charge, the commodity value of the glass is calculated and split 50-50 between the company and the city.

The city collects nondeposit glass at the rate of about 4.8 million pounds annually.

Island Recycling discontinued accepting nondeposit glass in December. It continues to pick up glass in large quantities but charges a hauling fee.

Honolulu Recovery Systems said it does not buy nondeposit glass, but is contracted to recycle the community recycling bins (at schools and transfer stations). The city does not have an accurate breakdown of the material recycled from those bins.

The Hawaii Deposit Beverage Container Program was launched in January 2005.

The Reynolds field buyer at the Kakaako location said he took in a couple of hundred pounds of bottles from nearby bars in a two-day period but was expecting that number to grow.

A champagne bottle weighs about 2 pounds, and an average wine bottle about 1.6 pounds, he said.

"It's good because there's a lot of it," said Kakaako resident Wayne Hyland, who collects HI-5 bottles and cans in a Kakaako park and turns them in weekly for an average of $80.

Kakaako resident Alice Higa said, "I'll bring in glass," but added, "It's not about the money."

She said her 94-year-old mother has filled a cabinet with glass jars. "She couldn't throw them away because it's wasteful," she said.

Higa said the Reynolds program provides an alternative place to bring such recyclables for those without curbside recycling, "whether it's an incentive for money" or just being able to recycle.

She now lives in an apartment building without recycling, but formerly lived in a townhouse complex that reduced the number of trash pickups to two days from five after instituting recycling.

Reynolds was planning to increase the number of workers at its Sand Island plant and plans to add two more Oahu locations.