As of Jan. 15, the City of Alexandria will join Fairfax County in no longer accepting glass in curbside bins for recycling.

Breakage, contamination and expenses have pushed both local jurisdictions to stop accepting glass in residential curbside recycling bins.

Residents who want their glass recycled will need to separate it and bring it to a "purple bin" — one of several free-standing purple containers designed specifically for glass recycling. 

Alexandria and other jurisdictions in the area joined “The Purple Can Club” earlier this year to improve glass recycling.

"Collecting glass separately in a purple container will reduce contamination levels in single-stream recycling," Fairfax County explained when it stopped accepting curbside glass recycling earlier this year. "All colors of clean glass bottles and jars are accepted in the purple containers. Glass items not accepted include lamps, light bulbs, ceramics, porcelain, mirrors, windows, and sheet glass."

Glass is taken to a special glass recycling facility in Lorton.

There are more than 20 drop-off locations in Fairfax County. (See the map below for locations.)

The City of Alexandria locations are: 

• S. Whiting St. (at the end of S. Whiting St., intersecting at Tower Ct.)
• 3224 Colvin St. 
• 4251 Eisenhower Ave.
• Jones Point Park (at the end of S. Royal St.) 
• MOM's Organic Market (3831 Mt. Vernon Ave.) - opening in January 2020