What We Do
Providing glass recycling solutions for residents, businesses, and events.
Before Glass Half Full was created in 2020, there were no glass recycling facilities in New Orleans. In addition to free drop-off hubs across the city, we offer collection services for residents, businesses, and events spanning several parishes. Once we’ve diverted this glass from the landfill, we sort it by color and remove all plastic and metal components.
Converting glass into sustainable sand & gravel.
Once collected and sorted, we process the glass by pulverizing it with hammer-mill crushers at our local facility
We sift the crushed product to remove labels and sort the various size distributions. From there, we are left with sand products ranging from super soft, beach-like powder to chunky glass gravel.
This all happens right here in Louisiana; nothing is ever shipped out of the state or overseas for processing. That way, we’re transforming glass “waste” into a resource that actually benefits the community doing the recycling.
Distributing our sustainable, recycled glass sand.
Finally, we allocate the sand and cullet for a myriad of applications. From coastal restoration and disaster relief to flooring and new glass products, we work to creatively integrate our recycled materials into everyday life.
Our Mission & Vision
Reducing waste, saving New Orleans money.
A single glass bottle placed in your city recycling bin will result in the entire load being sent to the landfill, where it will never decompose. New Orleans wastes millions of tax dollars per year dumping recyclables in landfills (we pay per pound that's discarded) and on importing millions of pounds of sand. We are addressing these unnecessary, wasteful, and expensive practices by providing a sustainable alternative.
Ethically & sustainably sourced sand, never mined or extracted.
We are currently facing a global sand shortage as this natural resource is depleted at an alarming rate. With the sand we create, we aim to provide a sustainable alternative to exploitative sand extraction techniques like dredging and mining, which disrupt local ecosystems, contribute to the coastal erosion crisis, and costs millions of dollars annually. Restoring Louisiana’s diminishing coast will require hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sand, further intensifying coastal erosion if this sand is dredged and sucked from the bottom of our waterways. Our recycled glass sand can rebuild entire coastlines at a fraction of the price.
Fighting our coastal erosion crisis.
Our ultimate goal is to use our recycled sand to help restore Louisiana's eroding shoreline. Louisiana has lost a quarter of its wetlands since the 1930s as a result of flood control structures designed to protect communities and businesses from flooding. While well-intentioned, such structures have prevented the deposition of sediment into barrier islands and wetland areas by the Mississippi River’s spring floods, a natural process critical to the preservation of coastal areas. Consequently, land is disappearing much faster than it can regenerate.
Sand is a crucial tool for rebuilding the barrier islands and sandbars that protect our coast from tropical storms and hurricanes. Returning sediment to wetlands combats erosion and encourages the survival of native foliage and wildlife, which will ultimately strengthen Louisiana’s economy and preserve our food supply. Dunes, beaches, and even the rapidly eroding Gulf seafloor can also benefit from sand deposition.
Mitigating natural disasters.
Sand is extremely valuable for its use in flood mitigation. New Orleans is especially vulnerable to tropical storms because it lies below sea level, is losing its protective coast, and is located off the Gulf of Mexico where storms are common. As a result, New Orleans constantly experiences flooding that inflicts expensive damage to homes and businesses. We use our recycled sand to fill sandbags that function to protect vulnerable areas.
Sandbags are also vital for levee maintenance because they can be used to prevent overflow, manipulate the direction of water flow, absorb seepage, and for structural fortification. Our sand is sourced sustainably — not mined and extracted from our public commons — and donated or sold to those in need of this critical resource.
Creating green jobs & industry.
Sand-extraction and production is a $70+ billion/year industry, and we aim to bring this lucrative, growing field to New Orleans. We have the opportunity to create jobs and industry locally, all while providing an ethical and sustainable alternative to ecologically harmful sand-mining and extraction practices.
