Glass Act: Alexandria nonprofit recycles glass into material that can be put to new uses

As the word has spread about Glass Act Recycling, the Alexandria nonprofit has developed a base of regulars who drop off discarded glass for processing into sand and other materials.

The strictly volunteer organization, at 5215 Leo St., is open from 8 a.m. to noon Fridays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. But in just those two days each week, it can collect about 7,700 pounds of glass, said Director Annie Collins. Since it opened in March, it has collected more than 80,000 pounds of glass. Volunteers not only man the center and run the crusher but also collect glass from residents at their homes once a month for a $25 fee.

“So we’re becoming glass central where people know they can bring their glass here,” said Collins. “We have glass from Natchitoches, from Lafayette, all over.”

Nicole Holcombe volunteers every other Friday and became a volunteer after Collins posted a request on Facebook for volunteers. She went into it not knowing what to expect but eventually learned how the center works. She now knows how to operate the crusher. The work is physically demanding since she has to carry and sort glass items. But she said the effort is worth it because recycling is important and the work goes toward a good cause.

Every other week, organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars bring glass to the warehouse. Others truck in glass from restaurants or neighborhoods.

“One woman goes around her neighborhood with her wagon and picks up glass,” she said.

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The operation can only take certain types of glass.

“The things you can recycle here, only because of the crusher, is anything that held food or beverage items like bottles or jars, medicine bottles,” Collins said.

Recently, someone left a box of fluorescent lightbulbs outside the gate, but federal safety guidelines prohibit it from being crushed.

“What we cannot accept are plate glass, windshields, mirrors, ceramic dishes, vases, fluorescent lightbulbs, lightbulbs of any sort,” Collins said.

Glass Act sells the sand made from the crushed glass for a variety of uses. It can be used in sandbags or for pool filtration. Decorative sand can be used as mulch. Colored bottles can be crushed into little chips called cullet and used in decorative concrete, countertops, pools, stepping stones, pottery or terrazzo flooring. The possibilities are endless, Collins said.

An added bonus is the glass isn’t going into landfills, she said.

Collins found another use for the recycled glass: sandblasting. A few months ago, she spoke with an owner of a sandblasting business. He told her metal that has to be painted, like the steel oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, needs to be sandblasted first.

“Then he tells me that they’re working around the clock, practically, and they’re so busy and that they use 200 pounds of sand an hour,” she said.

Gesturing around the warehouse, she said the operation has 80,000 pounds of glass.

“So you start to do the math in your head,” she said. “He came here and looked at this.”

But to be used for sandblasting, the sand needs to be sifted to a finer grade. Glass Act's machine can make cullet and sand, but not the kind needed for sandblasting. For that, the nonprofit will need a bigger crusher. Also, the machine can’t crush big bottles and tends to be rather slow.

In addition to glass, the nonprofit is collecting cardboard and aluminum to become a “one-stop shop” to make it easier for people to recycle, she said.

Collins is a travel agent, but being director of Glass Act has become like a full-time job. She said it’s all-consuming, but it’s new, fresh and exhilarating.

“This thing is getting bigger than we ever anticipated,” Collins said.

For information, email Annie Collins at annie@glassactrecycling.com or visit the Glass Act Recycling Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Glass Act: Alexandria nonprofit recycles trashed glass for new uses