Fundraising Underway to Purchase Glass Recycling Machine

by Loni Rahm

Megan Clausen and Devyn Smith (pictured above) were not pleased last spring when changes in the recycling market brought a halt to the local recycling of glass.

They both come from households who are firm believers in recycling, and it was painful to watch their own families – as well as the local restaurants and wineries – disposing of glass in the trash. So the two Manson High School seniors decided to do something about it.

“We were fueled to spend time researching recycling options throughout the country, and see what we could do to make a difference,” explains Clausen.

The basic and repetitive facts they discovered were at first discouraging:

  • There is no market for glass, mixed paper, paper board, and plastics.
  • “In most American cities, the glass bottle you toss in the recycling cart is essentially worthless, and if it breaks, the shards may make the paper in a mixed cart worthless as well.” (usatoday.com)
  • However, glass is still used in multiple products; food storage, cleaning products, cosmetic goods, and especially the wine and beer industry.

Encouraged by Carmen Fretwell, the owner of North Shore Cafe, the girls dug a little deeper and found an option that just might make the difference they were looking for.

There is a machine called the GLSand that grinds glass into sand. That’s the good news. But it comes with a hefty price tag: around $6,000 to purchase.

According to Clausen, the machine is about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide, and comes with a 5-gallon bucket where the sand product is collected. The bucket, filled with the newly created sand, would weigh 85 pounds which is equal to 60 wine bottles or 160 beer bottles. It takes 3-5 seconds to quietly crush each bottle.

Smith and Clausen reached out to a few of the local wineries to gauge their interest and potential support. They got the encouragement they needed to move forward with a fund raising effort to purchase the machine.

The girls launched a GoFundMe site, and put donation jars at Lake Chelan Building Supply, North Shore Cafe, Radiance Winery, Hard Row to Hoe, Wine Girl Wines, and Vin du Luc. In less than a month, they have reached about 25% of their goal.

Smith indicated the initial machine would be used and stored at North Shore Cafe in downtown Manson. If they raise enough funding for two machines, the second one would be housed in a separate location – perhaps at one of the wineries – to increase consumer convenience and recycling capacity.

Because Devyn and Megan both graduate this spring and want to keep the project sustainable, they plan on involving Manson High School students “where they can earn community service hours for crushing glass and learn more about what it takes to recycle in our community”.

Thank you ladies for helping find a glass recycling solution. Now it’s up to us to help fund it.

Contact and Funding Sites:

email: glasstosandlc@gmail.com
Facebook: Glass to Sand at Lake Chelan
GoFundMe:  Glass to Sand at Lake Chelan.

The sand product is safe to handle and there’s no silicosis dust. Use of the GLSand glass bottle crusher provides a 90% volume reduction in glass bottles in the land fill.

Some of its uses include:

  • Filling sand bags (Smith and Clausen have spoken with Brett La Mar at Lake Chelan Building Supply and plan on filling and selling sandbags through him as soon as they get the machine)
  • Use in gardens; the sand retains liquid and doesn’t blow around (Diotamide: cuts and kills pests)
  • Lining ditches for laying pipe
  • Sidewalks and asphalt.
  • Art: melt down for glass blowing (requires different grades of glass)