The dumpster will remain in the Makervillage parking lot for a four-month trial period, Lartundo says. The glass collection company, Strategic Materials, comes to Rome to pick up the glass once a month. Because it costs to arrange these pick-ups, the trial period is used to ensure that the initiative will be successful enough to make the process worthwhile for the company.
“If there isn’t enough need for this to be able to haul it to Atlanta once a month, then they will take that box to another location that needs it more than we do,” Lartundo says.
She and a friend have been monitoring the dumpster weekly to track its progress. Strategic Materials can only recycle glass bottles and jars, so the monitors ensure that no trash or other kinds of glass end up in the dumpster. Sheet glass and mirrors have a different melting point and therefore cannot be recycled in the same facility as bottles and jars.
After the four-month trial, when Strategic Materials approves the dumpster to stay behind Makervillage, Lartundo plans to register Glass Recycling of Rome, Georgia, as a non-profit so that it can operate on community donations. Each pick-up costs about $250, so this is another way that the Rome community can be involved in this project.
“I could pay for this myself and have it be a privately funded thing, but what’s the use of just one person doing that?” she asks. “It’s much better to join forces and have everybody participate in the common cause.”
The community aspect of this project is very important to Lartundo. “My three motivations are for the people to feel like they can contribute in some way to the greater good, and secondly for this community to come together for the same purpose, and thirdly so that we can help the planet,” she says. “For the people, for the city, and for the planet. That’s why I’m doing this.”