Recycling Glass Jars.... Where?

The days of getting a few cents for bottles are over, they take them for free now.

Back before they started using plastic for everything the stores would give 5 to 10 cents for soda (pop) bottles. At that time they would wash and sanitize them for re-use. Recycling is not new, it was something people did back in the old days that was expected (to not waste anything).

ETA: In M.'s town of Westborough, NO, there is no free pick-up of recycling! There's actually no free trash pick-up either unless you are in an apartment. You either buy a dump sticker and take trash to the transfer station (from where it is trucked to a facility for burning - no landfill) and/or you get a free recycling sticker and drive your recyclables to the same transfer station. Alternatively, you can pay a private company (there's only one authorized) and have them pick up trash every week, recycling every other week, or both. But they are separate trucks and separate operations.

M.:

Free glass recycling at Harvey's Transfer Station, Hopkinton Road, Westborough. You need a resident sticker from the Town but it's free with proof of address. If your family has 2 cars, you can get 2 stickers.

You can recycle all clear glass in one receptacle, colored glass in the one next to it. Rinse clean but you don't need to remove the labels. The lids and other metal things can go with plastics in the "co-mingle" bins, and cardboard/brown paper bags go in a cardboard recycling bin. I use cardboard boxes from things I've received, or free ones from the liquor store, to collect cardboard in my garage, then dump everything or even throw the whole container in to recycle.

I keep 3 bins in my garage - one for the glass (it's not hard for me to sort clear from colored because I don't have a lot of it), one for newsprint/magazines, and one for the mixed plastic/metal stuff. When I come in from the mailbox, I even stop right there and sort the junk mail right into the bin. My husband calls it "DTR - Direct To Recycling". I keep 2 small containers under my kitchen sink, and put cardboard in one (egg cartons, cracker boxes, etc.) and one for plastic and cans. Then I dump them in my garage as I'm heading out.

These are all in a row on the right when you drive in, about 75 yards straight ahead from the entrance. There is magazine/newspaper/junk mail recycling a little further down (don't put in bags or tie with string).

On the left, they take batteries and CFL bulbs.

You can get a list where you get the sticker. They will tell you what needs to be sorted and what doesn't.

There are usually helpful people there, either employees (in the orange reflective vests) or even just other town residents there who will point you in the right direction - the bins are all clearly marked but with all the snow you might need a little help!

If I get decorative glass jars (mason jars) from jams and other things from the farmers market, I save the jars and put tea lights or votive candles in them - they make nice patio lights and power-failure lights not subject to the wind outdoors or even from people just walking by.

If you need more info, you can private message me.

Our city picks up glass jars with the rest of the recycling. I save the nicer jars, like the Classico, and use them around the house for or donate them to the church. At church we use them for making dry soup mixes, or for selling leftover soup after Souper Sunday lunches or for Sunday school crafts. We don't pay a deposit on glass jars so we don't get money for returning them here. We get money for returning beer bottles and cans, but that is because we pay a deposit up front.

Doesn't your refuse company pick up recyclables?
I just throw glass jars in the recycle bin.

Where I live they just go in the recycle can with everything else and they are picked up weekly to be recycled. All we need to do is rinse them out and put them in. I would call whoever does your trash pick up or look on their website if they have one and they will be able to tell you what to do with them.

contact your municipality and ask them, or your garbage person, or your town dump. In NYC, we recycle, plastic, glass and metal, including jars.

If you feel like seeing them re-used as jars, consider posting on craigslist or freecycle and someone with some project in mind might take them off your hands, for little or no cost.

Best,
F. B.

Do you not have a recycling pick up bin with your regular trash pick up?

Our recycle bin picks up every other week.... Huge 95 gallon cart... No brainer.

No idea where to recycle for $$. It's not worth my time to drive, waste gas and attempt to find a place that pays. I send it to the city in the free recycle bin.

Doesn't your city have curbside recycling? We have 2 big garbage cans. one is for garbage and the other is for recycling materials. cardboard, paper, plastic, glass and some styrofoam. I keep a brown paper bag in my kitchen and when it is full of the above I take it and just toss it in the recycle can.

Our city does not pick up glass with the recycling either, but the main recycling facility for the city does have a glass drop off. I'm not sure why they don't do it curbside (weight, safety??) but I used to drive my glass over to the main place and dump them…the only problem was we had to separate by color, which got kind of annoying with various beer bottles.

Our city started using other glass recycling hugs called Ripple Glass…I think it's a local thing but I'm honestly not sure. They have dumpsters near liquor stores, grocery stores, etc. and they are super convenient.

I would just google glass recycling and see what pops up. It does take 100 years for glass to dissolve in a landfill, so recycling when possible is a great idea! :)

We recycle ours with our garbae. We have a bin dedicated to recyclables. We can put paper, plastic (not plastic grocery bags), metal, and glass. I recycle my paper though at the library or high school . They make money off of it and I feel I am helping out an extra way.

Our recycling takes glass in the bins that get collected every week.
So we put the jars in there.

if you don't have curbside recycling, your municipality almost certainly does. get in touch with your town hall and ask 'em. i've got relatives who do that, just take their recycs into town when they go grocery shopping or whatever and drop them off at the bins.
i don't think anyone will pay you for them any more.
khairete
S.