MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb County has been collecting recycled items bi-weekly with the help of waste management crews for the past several years.
Jan Crocker wrote in to 13WMAZ asking why she can't donate glass, and she was also wondering what happens to her recyclables after they are picked up.
We spoke to Macon-Bibb County spokesman Chris Floore and to Marla Prince, the senior community relations specialist for the waste management company to VERIFY.
Crocker says she recycles because of her daughter Maggie.
"I want to set an example for my child. It was important to her," she said.
She's been recycling for more than 30 years, but has never been able to donate glass.
"But Macon does not recycle glass; and I don't know why," said Crooker.
Marla Prince, the spokesperson of Waste Management (the parent company of Advanced Disposal), which collects recyclables in Macon-Bibb says glass can't be recycled here.
"It's hard to transport, very expensive, hard on the equipment and the sorting materials and the trucks in Georgia," said Prince.
In other words, the distance makes it expensive and not cost effective to collect curbside in certain locations.
So we can verify: No, glass is not accepted by Waste Management. Macon-Bibb County spokesman Chris Floore says items like bottle caps, food boxes, and beverage cans are accepted.
"Cardboard...there is a whole list of items on our website that we do and do not take. We just want to encourage people to put as much as they possibly can into their recycling bin," said Floore.
Crocker and her neighbors also want to know where their items go after they leave their curbs.
"From the curbside, they are transported to the transfer station, and then they are sent to the recycling center where they are actually separated and processed. Then they are sent to their particular market," said Prince.
The transfer station is off Riggins Mill Road in Macon, and the recycling center is on Dundee Road in Milledgeville.
After the items are sorted, the plastic will go to a plastic company and cardboard will go to a paper manufacturer.
Right now, 47,000 homes are serviced every other week. It's a free service offered to people in all all Macon-Bibb residential neighborhoods.
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