On April 1, Waste Management stopped accepting glass for recycling as its contract with the Regional Recycling & Waste Reduction District changed. Ace Glass recruited local businesses to put large bins outside their stores and offered a paid pickup service for residential customers.
“We’ve collected 1.8 million pounds of glass in six months from these areas, and that is going back into (the manufacturing) stream,” Ace Glass CEO Courtney Little said Monday. “You think, Little Rock used to do somewhere around 120,000 pounds a year, so we’re already 15 times what we used to collect, in a six-month period. So, you think over the year we’ll collect roughly 30 times what we used to, just on the current program.”
The cities of Little Rock, North Little Rock, Maumelle, Sherwood, and Jacksonville each have public drop-off locations, as do five Edwards Food Stores and a handful of other businesses. Hillcrest Liquor and Fine Wines is among them.
“We got it because there was a lot of demand for glass recycling,” store supervisor Tracy Seiter said. “The community was not real happy when the city cut out the glass recycling program. So, Ace Glass came to us and proposed that we put the bin on the lot, and we’ve had a wonderful response. And we’re just so happy that we could provide that service.”
Seiter said people bring so many bottles, Ace empties the bin every two to three days. “We’re shocked, actually,” she said. “We’re just shocked.”