News

 So you thought when you brought your glass jars and bottles to the depots they were being recycled? Well, not really. The SCRD crushes the glass and uses it as aggregate in roads and at the dump site. This is something that has disturbed many here on the coast for years. It also disturbed the people at Gibsons Recycling Depot. They have found a way to be part of the solution.

A new glass recyling program was launched at the depot on Earth Day. Owners Barb Hetherington and Buddy Boyd have purchased a glass crusher machine, the Andela Pulverizer, that takes the glass, sorts the caps and paper from the containers and produces a product that is sized from a sand-like consistency to about a 3/16th inch minus. "We were amazed at how quiet the machine is," said Boyd. "We plan to run the material through a final screen to separate any little bits of paper. But all the caps and plastic and the labels have been separated."

   

 New machine is ready to go!                                                            Glass is sorted into colors first.

 

It bothered them that the "Sechelt Blue Box program continues to force Sechelt residents to put their glass into their trash bins or they take their glass to the Extra Foods Mall where it is landfilled as cullet but promoted as recyling," said Boyd. "Both services cost taxpayers money to waste the glass. Unfortunately this happens in most communities in BC."

 

Now residents have the option to bring their glass to Gibsons Recycling Depot where they know that their glass bottles will be turned into a product to be reused. "This is how Buddy and I bring glass recycling to the coast," says Hetherington. "We work long hours, we research, we do without pay cheques and we go into debt so we can bring this oppportunity to the coast. We are committed to advancing Zero Waste opportunities for our community."

 

Hertherington says they are working with some coastal artists and businesses to find uses for their recycled glass. Which shouldn't be a problem once the word gets out.  The first to use some of the recycled glass is Wayne Harjula of Mellon Glass Stuidio in Langdale.

 

  Glass floats made at the Mellon Studio from the recycled glass bottles.

 

Only a year ago in Sandpoint, Idaho resident Terra Cressey started Glassroots Recycling. She now gives residents an alternative to the dump. The glass is broken and then washed and tumbled into a beach glass-like aggregate. People are using it for landscaping, tiles, table and counter tops and as a substitute for sand. It turns out the larger companies such as landscaping firms want the product. And Cressey finds herself in an unusual business position. She doesn't have enough of the product to meet the demand. She is also moving to larger facilities after being in business only one year.

 

What can you imagine for this recycled glass? The opportunity is here thanks to Gibsons Recyling Depot.