WATERLOO REGION - You know that glass jar you rinsed and placed carefully in your blue box? It ends up in the dump because no one will recycle it.

Regional government stopped recycling glass in 2011. However, it still asks you to put glass in your blue box - and spends a hefty premium to collect it apart from other garbage - because provincial law says it must.

This contributes to blue box losses that are expected to swell by $1 million this year, putting taxpayers in a bind.

"Markets out there for glass recycling are few to none," said Jon Arsenault, waste management director. "We're mandated under the blue box program to collect the material," he said. "We have no choice."

Regional government used to give away glass for free. Then it had to start paying recyclers to take it. Today it crushes 3,000 tonnes of glass it collects each year and uses it inside the landfill to firm up roads and as bedding around pipes. It's cheaper than paying a recycler to take it and Ontario still counts it as waste diverted because it's put to use before it's buried.

Wine, beer and liquor bottles don't have to go in blue boxes - they can be returned for deposits. In 2011, Ontario said it recycled more than 90 per cent of glass for wine and liquor into products such as new bottles, carpeting and fibreglass insulation. Beer bottles are widely recycled.

Glass is the only local blue box item currently not recycled. "We're able to get rid of everything else," Arsenault said. However the market is weak and blue boxes are expected to lose more money this year than they typically do, after accounting for costs to collect and process the waste.

Regional taxpayers face a $4-million garbage shortfall this year - $1 million less than budgeted for blue box sales and $3 million less than budgeted in tipping fees for business waste.

Businesses are generating less garbage and private haulers are taking more of it across the U.S. border, where one-third of Ontario garbage ends up. This saves space in the local landfill but forces taxpayers to shoulder more waste diversion costs previously subsidized by dwindling tipping fees.

Politicians are expected to consider impacts Tuesday. Options include hiking property taxes or reducing garbage service, a government report states. Reduced tipping fees are not recommended.

Potential service reductions include closing four rural transfer stations, limiting garbage bags at the curb and reducing garbage collection to every second week.

Service reductions previously approved include a $2 minimum fee at transfer stations, deferring a roof-shingle diversion program, eliminating 11 events to collect household hazardous waste, reducing hours for transfer stations and delaying apartment green bins.