Beginning March 1, glass will no longer be an accepted item in unincorporated Bryan County’s curbside recycling pick-up program. The change comes, in part, as a result of a drop in the commodities value of glass products.

The change applies to the unincorporated areas of the county, which are those serviced by Republic Services. The City of Richmond Hill and the City of Pembroke are served by a different provider. Beginning March 1, unincorporated Bryan County residents should place all glass products in their regular polycarts, designated for trash.

According to the Republic Services Senior Area Manager for Municipal Sales, Tracy Nestor, the value of recycled commodities is now below what it costs to run the materials through the system and market them, and this is especially true for glass.

“There are only a few processers of glass on the east coast. Glass has a negative value right now, so Pratt Industries (the area’s recycling processor) has to pay another company to take the glass away, which is why there’s a 30-40 percent increase in processing it,” Nestor said.

Residents are still encouraged to continue recycling all clear and opaque plastic jugs, metal and aluminum cans, paper and clean cardboard. Cardboard that is stained with food waste is not acceptable because there’s no way to remove the food residue in order to process it.

Residents should continue to leave their recycling clean, empty, dry and unbagged for pickup.