There’s a new way to recycle glass in Webster Groves!
In partnership with Ripple Glass and the St. Louis – Jefferson Solid Waste Management District, Webster Groves is rolling out a new program that will allow residents to recycle their glass with ease. The large purple Ripple Glass bin will be located outside of the Public Works building at 145 E. Waymire Ave.
Items accepted in the bins include:
- Glass food and beverage containers (all colors with labels on)
- Candle jars (leftover wax is okay)
- Cosmetic bottles/jars
Waste Management will continue to also remove glass that is placed in your recycling bin. Glass in Waste Management bins goes to a material recovery facility and is shipped to China to be recycled. Glass that is recycled by Ripple Glass is brought to a processing facility where it is cleaned, sorted by color, crushed and sized to meet the needs of its end-users. Brown or amber glass is separated out and sent to a bottle manufacturer to be re-melted into new bottles. Other clear and colored glass is crushed down into a coarse sand-like consistency and is sent to Kansas where it is used to make fiberglass insulation, high-performance countertops and flooring.
You can learn more by viewing this video.
Over the past 12 years, Ripple Glass has been dedicated to keeping glass out of the trash, by making glass recycling work. They started with 60 free, public glass drop-off locations in 2009 and have since added new purple bins each year to make 100+ locations across the KC Metro. In 2010, they expanded outside of the Kansas City Metro area and have since collected glass from over 100 communities across nine Midwest states. In 2018, they began collecting glass from businesses and multi-family homes through a commercial glass recycling program.
Through various collection methods, they have recycled over 400,000 tons of glass.