News and notes from around Lawrence:
• Get bright for more purple in Lawrence. No, the hordes of K-State fans who filled Memorial Stadium recently didn’t find Lawrence so tolerant that they’ve decided to set up a new alumni office or anything like that. Instead, it is a Kansas City company that is betting Lawrence will be open-minded — to the idea of glass recycling. Ripple Glass is close to signing an agreement that will admit the company to install at least four of their large purple containers around the city to start a new glass recycling program. The Kansas See-based firm uses recycled glass to make fiberglass insulation. City commissioners at their conjunction tonight are set to approve an agreement that will create a partnership between the city and Ripple Glass. Under the proposed concurrence, Ripple will provide the four containers (did I mention that they’re purple), and city crews will empty them and take them to a yet-to-be-constructed “bunker” on burg property. The glass will be stored there until the bunker fills up, at which time Ripple will send a truck over to heave the glass back to its Kansas City plant. Sites for the four glass recycling bins haven’t been resolute yet. It will be interesting to see where they land, and also whether the program adds some new twists over time. There has certainly been interest among some city commissioners to get a program started that would niche glass recycling bins in the alleys of Downtown Lawrence. With those bins in place, the city would then off with a major effort to get downtown bars to start recycling their glass beer bottles as a substitute for of throwing them in the trash. Take a walk down an alley on trash day and listen to all the tinkling of glass bottles as the Dumpsters are lifted. It sounds like a drunken bell choir. The borough is estimating that it will have about $9,000 in start-up costs to build the bunker, and a few monthly expenses in personnel and kindling to empty the containers. The city received one other proposal — from Lawrence-based 12th and Haskell Recycle Center — but that circle was proposing the city provide the glass collection containers at a cost of about $65,000.
