Kanawha to resume glass recycling on Monday

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After months without the service, West Virginia Recycling Services will resume collection of glass recycling at its Charleston center.

The Slack Street recycling center hasn't been able to accept glass since it reopened in December, after being closed for months because of structural issues on the site.

When George Hunyadi, owner of West Virginia Recycling Services, took over the center in December, he wasn't immediately sure that it was practical to accept glass. It's heavy, and there's not a lot that can be done with it once it's been broken - he didn't want the county's glass to come through his facility only to end up in a landfill.

"But the number one question I got asked is 'why did you guys stop taking it?'" he said. "I've been receiving phone calls asking about it since Christmastime."

James Young, executive director of the Kanawha County Solid Waste Authority, said survey data backs that up.

"It's more of a public service than anything else," Young said.

The glass will be pulverized on site. That pulverized glass - about 3/8 of an inch thick at the most - will be available to the public for no charge. Anyone is free to come into the Slack Street Center and take some of the gravel-like crushed glass home with them.

"It's a variety of colors," Hunyadi said. "It's clear, brown, green... some of these bottles are blue. So altogether it's very attractive. People like the way it looks."

Eventually, the crushed glass will probably be used in place of gravel to pave roads or for other projects. Hunyadi is trying to avoid any disposal costs, so he's will to get rid of the crushed glass any way he can.

To recycle glass bottles and containers, bring them to the West Virginia Recycling Services center at 600 Slack St. The containers can be placed in a glass-specific bin alongside the other recycled materials being accepted there.

The facility is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

Monday also marks the day the center will resume acceptance of recycled materials from local municipalities. Since the Slack Street Center was shut down, those municipalities have been forced to truck recycled materials to other, far-off locations.

"So that's going to start taking a lot of the burden off the cities," Young said. "It's a good day for the residents but also really for those municipalities that have had to do that for so long."