The City of Sioux Falls has a recycling ordinance. Haulers must bring in a certain percentage of recyclable material every month. But there's always been one material they couldn't handle and it's been piling up in the city's landfill until now.

Despite a recycling ordinance, Sioux Falls hasn't offered glass recycling in the past Instead, glass has been going right into the Sioux Falls Landfill and only adding to a growing problem. But for a week now, some Sioux Falls residents have had a choice.

For years, glass went right into the trash along with everything else you can't recycle. But now, Millennium Recycling is trying to change that.

"The way our system works, it doesn't really require us to have any additional handling which was a big reason for us getting into handling glass," said Jake Anderson from Millennium Recycling.  

Glass can now come in with all the other recyclables and the sorting machines will do the rest.

"The first process of the system will break the glass into these pieces and falls right through the system and falls out and gets extracted that way," stated Anderson.  

Millennium Recycling is also installing a machine to extract all the paper and metal bottle caps, so all their left with the final recyclable product.

"We're handling it as a mixed color. Less handling, less issues, less cost in handling the material," said Anderson.  

Which helps keep cost to residents down as well. Glass is still listed as a voluntary recyclable for city residents, but Millennium feels the demand is enough to ensure the programs success.

"Frankly, this is where we operate, this is our backyard, and this is our community, just like it is for the folks that live here. And I think it's a service we want to provide and the residents want to see offered," stated Anderson.

Only certain haulers will be picking up glass from residents homes. Millennium Recycling is encouraging everyone to call their hauler before putting glass out on the curb. Otherwise, you can bring it to their public drop off site.

Sioux Falls Public Works officials say glass can be thrown away because it's not toxic. But they encourage residents to recycle as much as they can.