What physical traits do glass bottles possess that say, plastic bottles do not —besides not being made of fossil fuels and shedding microplastics everywhere? Glass bottles can get recycled very, very easily, and they are infinitely recyclable. According to the American Chemical Society, 90% of disposed glass gets recycled in some European nations while the U.S. only recycles 33%.
Which brings me to a really good story about what’s happening in New Orleans.
Franziska Trautmann and Max Steitz, are the co-founders of Glass Half Full—go to their site it’s worthy of your time. And they launched a glass recycling program from their backyard in New Orleans.
They take glass bottles and convert them into sand and gravel. The recycled glass is used for coastal restoration, flooring, disaster relief and to make new glass products.
From their site:
As seniors at Tulane University in 2020, we were disappointed and frustrated with the lack of glass recycling in New Orleans. One night, over a bottle of wine that we knew would end up at the landfill unless we did something about it, we hatched a plan to combat this problem. Specifically, we wanted a system that was transparent, accessible, and most importantly, actually recycled glass into something functional. Instead of trying to take on the task of reforming the current system, we decided to look at the ‘glass half full’ by implementing our own grassroots glass recycling program.
