Nashville Mayor Launches Glass Recycling Program for 20 Bars

For now, Metro has been shipping the broken bottles — along with other recycled glass collected at three drop off sites — to a processing center in Jackson, Tennessee. There, the shards are converted into material for sandblasting.  

While some other materials have a market where the city can earn revenue, glass is costly to recycle. Metro pays $40 per ton, more than the $38.50 it pays for shipping general waste to a landfill. Glass’s heavy weight increases shipping costs and end-users aren’t willing to pay a premium because raw glass is relatively inexpensive.

To save on disposal costs, Metro officials hope to process and reuse the glass in Nashville — potentially as a substitute for gravel in public works projects. They’re ramping up the program from three bars to 20 this month, and would like to include other Downtown businesses.