KINGWOOD — The Preston County Solid Waste Authority is working with the Terra Alta Recycling Center on recycling glass and tires.
The authority is working with Terra Alta to find a building to house a GP-05L System glass recycler. And the recycling center is also housing a trailer used to collect tires.
Preston County Commissioner Don Smith, who represents the commission on the board, said Kingwood’s recycling center, which was also considered, doesn’t have space to house glass recycling system. Smith said the system is 35 feet long and must be indoors. He said Terra Alta indicated it has the potential to house the machine.
Smith said he believes glass recycling could help fund the county’s recycling program. The Dominion Post reported in November that Kingwood has to supplement payments received on garbage and recycling to support the program.
“I bet 90% of the garbage from places like the Eagles and the VFWs is glass,” Smith said at an earlier PCSWA meeting. “It would be a way to help support recycling and also lessen the amount of stuff going into the landfill.”
He said glass recycling could also cut the cost of taking trash to the landfill.
“Think of the impact it would have on trash going to the landfill. Glass is heavy. The ultimate goal would be it would lessen tipping fees at the landfill,” Smith said.
He said he recently received a new price list for the GP-05L and is going to apply for grants to cover the cost of the system.
The system separates glass products from non-glass debris. Smith said this would eliminate the need to separate glass by color. He said the system would turn the recycled glass into glass mulch, which could be used in parks and be sold.
Smith said the glass mulch shines at night and could also be used in sidewalk and driveway construction.
“You won’t have to clean the glass or remove the wrappers before it is recycled,” Smith said. “The machine takes care of that.”
Other than collecting information and writing grants, the project is on hold.
“There’s not a lot we (PCSWA) can do to move forward until we can meet again,” Smith said.
Tire recycling
Preston County Litter Control Officer Jay Sowers said the State Department of Environmental Protection is covering the cost of transporting old tires collected from around the county to a central location.
Tires are loaded onto a trailer at the Terra Alta recycling center. When it is full, the DEP has it hauled away and brings in an empty trailer.
“They just took one load,” Sowers said. “Right now, I have about 1,000 tires lined up waiting for an empty trailer to load them into. It looks like we’re moving a lot of tires out of Preston County.”
Sowers said anyone who has questions about tire disposal can call him at 304-698-5594.
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