Colored glass is included in this pile of recyclables at the Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority materials recovery facility.

Photos by MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Dwayne Dameron separates clear glass from colored glass Friday at the Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority materials recovery facility in Christiansburg. A team of workers hand-sort what the authority calls "comingled containers" that include plastics, cans and glass.

Roanoke residents once again can recycle their colored glass.

It's been more than five years since the city stopped accepting the glass in recycling pickups, but a contract with Recycling & Disposal Solutions of Portsmouth now allows residents to throw their brown beer bottles and other such glass recyclables somewhere other than the trash.

The new contract doesn't officially start until March, but Skip Decker, manager of the city's solid waste department, said residents can go ahead and begin recycling the glass now.

The Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Authority, which has been taking Roanoke's recycling load since April, accepts colored glass, but the city hadn't wanted residents to get used to it while bids still were out on the new contract, Decker said. The city was concerned that the vendor chosen for the new contract might not take colored glass -- and that would require the city to kill the program again after just restarting it. Now that the Portsmouth vendor has agreed to take the glass, the city will haul it to Montgomery County until the new contract starts.

The city had accepted colored glass under its old contract with Cycle Systems, but in 2003 the company told the city it was having trouble finding sources for it. Cycle Systems gave the city a year to notify residents that it would no longer be accepted.

The new rates with Portsmouth's RDS aren't substantially different from those with Montgomery Regional. Paper pickup is less expensive, the bottles and cans rate is a little more expensive and either is cheaper than the rate for dropping off trash.

However, the city will save about $2,500 per month in transportation costs. RDS will build a recycling facility somewhere in the Roanoke Valley, saving the city's trucks from having to drive down U.S. 460 to Montgomery County on a regular basis.

"We see Roanoke as a growth area for our industry," said Debra Devine, business development manager for RDS. "The Roanoke Valley comes with a great reputation for recycling efforts. We've had our eyes on it for some time and we're happy to be in the valley."

The RDS contract with Roanoke begins March 1, but Devine said the company is working to start even sooner if possible.