Since 2020, New Orleans project has turned bottles into sand; 12M pounds of glass diverted

Representative Image (AI-generated) A bottle tossed away in New Orleans does not necessarily have to end its life in a landfill. A project launched in 2020 is giving discarded glass a second purpose; crushing bottles into sand that can be used in coastal restoration. Glass Half Full, founded by Tulane University students Franziska Trautmann and Max Steitz, has grown from a small backyard operation into a larger recycling programme. In February 2026, Tulane University reported that the initiative had diverted more than 12 million pounds of glass from landfills. The project is now turning a common waste stream into material that can support efforts to restore Louisiana’s vulnerable coastline.From discarded bottles to recycled sandThe idea behind Glass Half Full is relatively simple: collect unwanted glass, crush it and give the resulting material a new use. The organisation accepts glass through residential and commercial pickups as well as drop-off programmes before processing it at its facility. According to Tulane University, the operation can process about two tons of glass per hour, turning the waste into sand and gravel for several industries, with coastal restoration being a m...