Status and opportunities of glass recycling: Integrating national benchmarks, local waste audits, and environmental insights

Glass is infinitely recyclable, yet most of the glass generated in the United States is still disposed of rather than recovered. This study presents a case study of glass recycling performance in Lucas County, Ohio, integrating landfill waste characterization audits, materials recovery facility composition audits, and annual recycling tonnage data to evaluate system-level glass flows. Results show that resident participation in glass collection programs is high, with glass comprising approximately 24–25% of materials entering the recycling system through curbside and drop-off programs in 2024. However, due to the absence of regional glass processing and marketing capacity, none of this material is recovered. Approximately 5,900 tons of glass entered the recycling system in 2024 and were subsequently disposed of as residuals, in addition to an estimated 2,800 tons disposed directly in the municipal solid waste stream. From an environmental perspective, these losses represent substantial unrealized benefits associated with glass recovery. The case study demonstrates that glass recycling outcomes in Lucas County are constrained primarily by system design rather than resident behavior, highlighting the importance of aligning collection programs with downstream processing infrastructure. The findings provide broader insight into structural barriers affecting glass recycling performance in single-stream systems across the United States.