Finely-ground recycled glass is used to manufacture fiberglass insulation

Since opening in October 2011, Rumpke Recycling’s glass processing facility in Dayton, Ohio has recovered 20,000 tons of container glass from residential and commercial recycling programs.

Broken and mixed glass from the single stream recycling process is sorted by color and size at the glass plant before it is shipped to Johns Manville (JM) for fiberglass insulation, or Owens-Illinois and Saint-Gobain for container glass.

In the spring, a fire at the JM manufacturing facility in Richmond, Ind. temporarily slowed Rumpke’s glass processing until another outlet for the glass could be secured. Production is back up, and in July, Rumpke shipped 600 tons of mixed bottle cullet via rail to a JM manufacturing facility in Kansas.

“Having the ability to ship both by truck and rail has opened up more markets for the plant’s finished product,” said David Schwendeman. “The finely ground cullet from our silo in Dayton is loaded into trucks and then transloaded by Good Industries in Franklin, Ohio into rail cars that travel to JM in Kansas.”

Rumpke has operated a glass processing facility in Dayton since 2004. Last year, Rumpke invested $4 million and obtained a $500,000 Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant through the City of Dayton to install new equipment that has doubled the facility’s processing capability.

Rumpke Recycling accepts glass bottles and jars of any color

The new system includes optical scanning technology to sort clear and colored container glass, making the recovery process more efficient and economical. In turn, this means more cost-effective recycling programs for consumers, bars and restaurants and potentially job growth across the state. Rumpke Recycling accepts glass bottles and jars of any color in residential and commercial recycling programs.

 Written by Rumpke's Corporate Communications Team.