As of July 1, 2022, the Town of Southern Pines will no longer collect glass in the curbside recycling bins. This change is due to the increasing costs and challenges of processing glass. With this change, the final recycling collection that may contain glass will be the last week of June.If glass is observed in the curbside bin after July 1, the hauler will not empty the bin and will instead tag the bin for the customer to either remove the glass or dispose of all the items in bags for collection in the garbage bin.
“Glass recycling has diminished nationally due to the closure of glass manufacturing plants and the increased popularity of canned craft beers,” notes Assistant Town Manager Jessica Roth. “Curbside recycling is almost exclusively single-stream, meaning customers combine all recyclable materials in a single container. When glass breaks, the small pieces mix with other recyclables and everything must be sold as a contaminated product at a reduced price and to a limited market. For this reason, many providers have stopped accepting glass through single-stream collection, which is already seen in Moore County, where no other municipalities collect glass at the curb.”
Southern Pines solid waste customers will have two options to dispose glass after July 1. To discard the glass for collection at your home or business, place it in a properly closed bag inside the garbage cart. Please do not put any loose glass items in the garbage cart.
For those who would like to continue recycling glass, these items can be taken to any one of the seven Moore County central collection sites, which is free to all residents of Moore County. Each site has a stand-alone glass container where the glass may be discarded for recycling. Moore County operates the following collection sites:
- Aberdeen: Turning Leaf Way, Aberdeen
- Cameron: 276 Crane’s Creek Rd, Cameron
- Carthage: 5361 US 15-501, Carthage
- Eagle Springs: 363 Eagle Springs Rd, Eagle Springs
- Midway: 10496 NC 24-27 West, Carthage
- Robbins: 1465 Leaman Rd, Robbins
- West End/Seven Lakes: 605 Love Grove Church Rd, West End