Town of Halifax starts glass recyling program

The Town of Halifax is now accepting glass recycling again, as part of a pilot project conducted by the town with the assistance of the Halifax County Improvement Council. The pilot project is the result of a plea to residents to contact the Improvement Council for suggestions to recycle the County’s glass, which was posted in their June newsletter. Jack Dunavant, owner of Dunavant Engineering & Construction in Halifax, is planning to recycle the glass by finely crushing it and using it in road paving applications.

Clear and colored glass will be accepted, and no separation of colors is necessary!

Jenny Hochstein, Recycling & Litter Control Coordinator for the Improvement Council states, “In order for this project to work to the benefit of all concerned, residents will need to be diligent in following instructions carefully so as not to contaminate the glass and deem it unusable”: 1) The glass containers should be EMPTY and RINSED out so that no food is sticking to the inside of the jars, which can attract rodents and insects. 2) Labels may be left on! 3) Lids should be removed and 4) Broken glass should not be included.

The commencement date for the Town of Halifax ONLY pilot project is this Wednesday, Sept. 24. The Town of Halifax Sanitation Department crew is accepting glass as part of their weekly curbside pick ups each Wednesday (excluding modified Holiday schedules). When recycling your glass curbside, please place the glass in a plastic bag and place the bag on top of the other recyclables in your bin. This alerts the recycling crew that there is glass present, and they can handle it with care so as not to injure themselves or contaminate other items being recycled.

Depending on the success of the curbside recycling pilot project, the County may be placing a glass recycling bin ONLY at the Town of Halifax Convenience Center Site (located in the Blue Ridge Jail parking lot). When recycling glass at the Convenience Center site, please follow the same instructions above: empty, rinsed, labels may be left on, lids removed. But when recycling glass at the Convenience Center site, please place the glass directly into the bin with no bags — this will keep the glass free of contaminants so that sorting will not be necessary.

The Town of Halifax offers free curbside pickup of certain recyclable material in an effort to adhere to the requirement that all residents and commercial establishments from which the town collects refuse separate and make available for collection such recyclables (Code adopted by Halifax Town Council 05-13-91 and amended on 03-14-06). As an incentive and to reduce the costs of longer distances for solid waste hauling, a plastic recycling bin to collect and store material is being provided by the town at no cost. The town will pick up your properly prepared recyclable materials (see guidelines below) in front of your home or business every Wednesday. Town residents may also use the containers provided to take their recyclables to the large bins located at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail lower parking lot which accepts newspaper, plastic, cardboard and cans.

Please contact the Halifax Town Hall (434-476-2343) or the Halifax County Improvement Council (434-222-9498) with any questions.