Beginning Wednesday, Beaver County residents can bring recyclable glass and gently used eyeglasses, sunglasses and reading glasses to the Bradys Run Park Recycling Center.

BRIGHTON TWP. — The recycling-conscious might find their glass half full again starting this week.

Beginning Wednesday, Beaver County residents can bring recyclable glass and gently used eyeglasses, sunglasses and reading glasses to the Bradys Run Park Recycling Center in Brighton Township. Haulers and the county's waste management department stopped collecting glass Jan. 1.

"When we stopped accepting glass at the recycling center, there was a lot of negativity," said Holly Vogt, director of the Beaver County Department of Waste Management. "Residents were not happy when they found out that haulers were putting their recyclables in a landfill."

According to the National Waste and Recycling Association, one-fourth of what people throw in a recycling bin still ends up in a landfill because it's contaminated or not able to be recycled.

"We're trying to be part of a solution," she said. "Right now, some haulers are leaving glass in people's yards."

Vogt worked for several months to develop "From Glass to Glass, Through Beaver County's Lens." The program allows the county to collect some glass containers and unused eyewear, she said.

Eyewear collected through the program will be shared with local doctors or sent abroad through Mission Vision for reuse in developing countries, Vogt said.

There's also an education portion to the project, Vogt said.

"We're going to educate the public about how glass can be recycled to eliminate contamination," she said. "That's some of the issues that curbside (recycling) had in the past."

The county struck a deal with a bottling company to take glass collected, but there are a lot of caveats. The glass must be clean and not contaminated, Vogt said, and the education program is part of that agreement.

Vogt said all colors of glass bottles and jars only are accepted. Caps, lids and labels are acceptable, but the jars and bottles must be empty and cleaned out.

"If there's still liquid or material inside the jar, it can contaminate all of the glass in the recycling bin," she said. "One of the reasons this bottling company is taking our glass is because they weren't going to end up with crap."

The county cannot accept window glass, light bulbs, drinking glasses or stemware, televisions, dishware, ceramics or mirrors.

Any eyewear being recycled must be kept separate from glass bottles and jars, Vogt said.