ASHWAUBENON ?Hour after hour, the sound of breaking glass and falling plastic bottles fills the air at Brown County's Materials Recycling Facility in Ashwaubenon.

And, lately, that sound is the sound of money.

More than 5,000 tons of recyclable plastic and glass go through the facility each year.

The county built the facility in 1994, when recycling made financial and environmental sense, but it didn't produce a profit.

Now the county is seeing a growing financial return from recycling, because of higher volume, greater efficiency and strong resale value.

The county's director of solid waste, Chuck Larscheid, estimates the county's profit is about $150,000 a year after expenses.

Those savings could turn into even more simplified recycling soon.

Larscheid is proposing several possible changes that could eliminate the need for separating plastics and glass from paper. Combining all types of recycling is known as single-stream recycling.

"Plastic is high, aluminum is high and we're not charging anything for drop-off right now," Larscheid said. "Paper is strong. The only thing we're not breaking even on is glass. It's still a loser."

The county takes recyclables from most of the local municipalities.

Methods of collecting trash vary from city to village. Green Bay, for example, still uses employees to pick up the trash. Allouez has automated trucks, and Ashwaubenon is considering the purchase of automated trucks.

But single-stream recycling would make it easier to use automated trucks.

The facility on South Broadway can sort glass from plastic and aluminum, but it cannot sort out the paper. That's why homeowners are still asked to separate their recyclables.

Ashwaubenon has asked the county to consider investing in a new facility that would allow single-stream recycling, Larscheid said. That might mean a savings to all towns, villages and cities in the system.

"Single-stream would take a lot of cost out of pickup," he said. "We hope to show it would be long-term savings for everyone, even if there's some initial investment in a new facility."