Newly-launched local recycling company Overlooked Materials will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 17 at its new facility at 951 S. Watkins St.
Overlooked launched its glass recycling operation earlier this month, establishing the first curbside glass recycling service in Chattanooga since city government stopped offering it in 2018. Overlooked customers, both residential and commercial, receive a yellow bin that they can place their glass in for monthly pickup and recycling by Overlooked staff. Current collection areas include Chattanooga, Red Bank, Signal Mountain, Hixson, Lookout Mountain, Ridgeside, and East Ridge. Customers can sign up at overlookedmaterials.com
Overlooked’s facility can convert up to 4,000 tons of glass per year into different grades of sand and aggregate products. That is roughly four times the amount of glass currently collected annually at all City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, and Signal Mountain recycling drop off centers combined.
For increased sustainability, Overlooked hopes to keep its processed glass products in the local economy, with proven use cases in the building, landscaping, and industrial markets here in the Chattanooga metro area.
Chattanooga has a proud tradition of glass bottling and processing, but Overlooked’s launch means glass is being processed locally for the first time since since the Chattanooga Glass Company facility closed its doors in the 1980s. To honor Chattanooga’s glass history, Overlooked’s Watkins Street facility will include a small museum featuring rare glass artifacts from the local industry’s past.
Overlooked plans to open its doors to the public at a public open house on July 27.
One thing that makes Overlooked uniquely sustainable is that the glass collected locally is processed locally, at the Watkins Street facility using a specially designed glass pulverizing system.