Orcas Island鈥檚 trailblazing project to divert heavy, discarded glass away from destination landfills and back to the productive economy has begun sending glass byproduct to Bellingham public works. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the Holy Grail of 鈥榸ero waste鈥� communities everywhere,鈥� said Pete Moe, executive director of Orcas Recycling Services, which now accepts source-separated glass free of charge. 鈥淭o take a valueless material and find a use for it 鈥� that鈥檚 huge for us.鈥�
Moe and his board of directors began reimagining glass recycling after China stopped accepting shipments of America鈥檚 trash in 2018. Three years later, Orcas Recycling took delivery of an聽Andela GP-05L Glass Crusher, a machine capable of pulverizing trash glass into sand-like cullet 鈥� recycled broken or waste glass with potential for commercial or artistic applications. In a naming contest for the powerful device, Orcas schoolkids chose 鈥淏ig Blue.鈥�
If commercial uses can be found for the island鈥檚 sand-crushed glass, Moe reasoned, the 鈥渓argest component of trash by weight鈥� could be removed from the waste stream, saving Orcas Recycling thousands in shipping costs. 鈥淧otentially,鈥� he said, 鈥渁 new local or regional industry could be created.鈥�
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Author: Toby Cooper, Salish Current