Breakage, contamination and other factors have pushed Fairfax County to stop accepting glass in residential curbside recycling bins.
Residents who want their glass recycled will need to start separating it out and bringing it to a "purple bin" — one of several free-standing purple containers designed specifically for glass recycling.
Alexandria and other jurisdictions in the area joined The Purple Can Club earlier this year. (While glass is still accepted in the blue recycling bin in the City of Alexandria, the City has established purple container drop-off centers to improve the recyclability of glass.)
There are more than 20 drop-off locations in Fairfax County, and the County is evaluating more locations to make glass recycling easier. (See the map below for locations in Fairfax County and in Alexandria and Arlington.)
Glass can break and contaminate other recycling, glass is heavy to transport and broken glass can damage recycling machinery that isn't designed to process it.
"Collecting glass separately in a purple container will reduce contamination levels in single-stream recycling," according to Fairfax County. "All colors of clean glass bottles and jars are accepted in the purple containers. Glass items not accepted include lamps, light bulbs, ceramics, porcelain, mirrors, windows, and sheet glass."
Glass is being taken to a special glass recycling facility in Lorton.
Fairfax County recently released the video below to show the glass recycling process in action.
