Inside a warehouse on Louisa street, about 200,000 pounds of bottles are going to be crushed into sand.
That sand could help rebuild Louisiana’s coast.
“Every day that we don’t rebuild this land, we lose that much more. Essentially, it’s like a battle. We kind of see it as this big fight.”
Ben Bagwill is a co-founder of “Glass Half Full,” a non-profit which creates the sand. He says this all started in the backyard of a fraternity in March with two Tulane students.
Since then the group has gotten two warehouses to make the sand.
The non-profit has gotten the attention of the Army Corps of Engineers. Which is now researching how this sand can help save Louisiana’s coast.
“The problem is so large that we need to be making as much of this product as possible,” says Bagwill.
Three machines in the warehouse crush the bottles, creating five to six hundred pounds an hour.
A new machine is expected in the next month and a half that will triple that.
Bagwill says when people in our area recycle, they should see the benefits of what they do.
“You put your stuff into this recycle bin and then you never really know what happens to it. You never really see the results. Or like reap the benefits. To us the benefits need to be felt locally, where those products come from. Because we need them,” says Bagwill.
Tt’s not just sand for coastal restoration, they also fill sandbags to help fight flooding.
And “Glass Half Full” is in informal talks with Mayor Cantrell on how to use their product to fill potholes.
If you ever wanted to know what we’re drinking during quarantine they have the answer.
“No Bud Lite, no Budweiser, no Michelob Ultra. It’s all craft beer, and then like wine, and fancy liquor.”
You can drop off glass at two locations in New Orleans. 3935 Louisa Street on Mondays & Saturdays and 911 Joliet Street on Wednesdays. Both locations accept donations between 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.
If you’d like to help with their gofundme page, click here.
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