MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — People in Skagit County will no longer be able to take their glass bottles to the transfer station for recycling, effective Tuesday, Oct. 1.
The new rule only applies to people who take their recycling directly to the transfer station — not for people who recycle curbside. That means people who usually take their glass to Skagit County transfer stations will now have to throw it away in the trash.
It is considered a regional issue that will likely affect people all across western Washington.
"We just don't have any other options for recycling right now," said Margo Gillaspy, solid waste division manager for Skagit County Public Works.
The situation fallout from the indefinite closure of the area's main supplier of recycled glass, Ardagh Glass, in Seattle due to a lack of demand for recycled glass.
"There has been a decline in the demand for glass in beer and wine bottles," said Gillaspy. "Maybe more people are drinking out of different containers. That was the main product that our recycled glass was being made into."
Restricting recycling is not what those in charge of it want to do, but they say they have no choice — with Skagit County's three transfer stations taking in just over 244 tons of glass in 2023.
"It's more material that needs to be thrown out, more material that we're trucking and sending on trains to the landfill," said Gillaspy. "For a greenhouse gas reduction we'd like to see less material going to the landfill and instead for it to be recycled."
But the situation is not a total loss.
Landfills have to cover the trash they take in every day. That's typically done with soil, but now some of the glass that isn't being recycled will be used for that.
"When this glass is going to the landfill, it's often being crushed and used as a replacement for that, so they put a layer of glass down over the open cell. It's replacing the use of the soil," said Dan Weston of Washington's Department of Ecology.
Some of the glass will also be used to pave roads.
Right now, the Skagit County restrictions only apply to people who bring their glass to transfer stations but officials say that could expand to curbside, as well, if the market for recycled glass doesn't improve.
The Department of Ecology said the restrictions will likely be in place through the first quarter of next year, if not longer.