This is the last week glass will be accepted in the brown residential recycling bins.

Next Monday is July 1, the beginning of the city’s new fiscal year and the beginning of the ban on glass of any kind in the residential recycling bins.

Glass from bars and restaurants which doesn’t go through the city’s materials recycling facility but is taken directly to be recycled will continue to be picked up. The city is also making it possible for residents to recycle glass.

When the ban on glass in the residential recycling bins was first announced, there were going to be two places residents could drop off glass to be recycled.  And on the eve of the new program the city has announced there will be four glass drop off locations starting on July 1.  As the city and the residents work the kinks out of this new process, more sites will almost certainly be announced.  The city is currently talking to some faith organizations in search of additional glass drop off sites.

One reason there will not be more sites initially is that the city has had a problem with people using city recycling drop off sites as garbage dumps.  The result in some instances has been that the recyclable material was so contaminated with garbage, that everything had to be sent to landfill, defeating the whole purpose of the off location.

These locations will be for glass only and glass bottles and jars should be empty, clean and dry.  Lids, caps and corks cannot be recycled with the glass and should be put in the trash.

The four glass recycling locations that open Monday, July 1 are:

  • Fire Station 19, 6900 Downwind Road
  • Kathleen Clay Edwards Library, 1420 Price Park Dr.
  • McGirt-Horton Library, 2501 Phillips Ave.
  • Medford Service Center, 401 Patton Ave.