Why can't we accept glass?

Did you know that glass is 100% recyclable, and can be done so endlessly without fear of decreasing its quality or durability? You may be wondering then, why Aquatera no longer accepts glass as a part of its recycling program. We get this question a lot, and trust us, we’re picking up what you’re putting down (minus glass of course). 

Here’s the deal. Although we are continuously modernizing and growing in new and innovative ways, glass recycling is actually a hard market to get into. Since 2013, Aquatera has been unable to find a suitable contractor who is willing to take glass off our hands and despite what many people believe, we are not directly responsible for recycling the materials we collect.

The current recycling market

We rely heavily on the recycling market to develop and implement options for recyclable items. Customers are charged a recycling fee on their monthly bill because of the amount it costs us to hire a third party contractor to bring recyclable materials to a recycling processor. Without a contractor, the glass we collect from you would have to be stored on one of our locations, continually growing until we found something to do with it.

You may be thinking that there must be some options for glass that haven’t been explored. Absolutely. And if we can find a solid market, we will look at collecting glass again. Like many of the items we accept, we never stop looking for the next best way to recycle it.

Refundable glass bottles, such as juice, wine, spirits and beer are still accepted at our Bottle Donation Program and Recycle Plus bottle depots. Luckily, these items make up nearly 80% of all recyclable glass in the market.

While we continue to explore our options, Aquatera will continue to be a leader in the world of recycling. We hope to launch more programs in the future, that will help us reduce our environmental footprint.