[OKRA] Sustainability Through Recycled Glass - Ada, OK

[Ellen Bussert]

Kudos to researchers from East Central University who are finding a way to
keep glass out of the landfill.

[image: image.png]

Sustainability through recycled glass

   - Mackenzee E. Crosby | The Ada News
   - Jun 22, 2021
   -


[image: Sustainability through recycled glass]
<https://www.theadanews.com/content/tncms/live/#1>

By Mackenzee E. Crosby | The Ada News Most of the bottles donated to the
project are of the alcoholic variety.


[image: Sustainability through recycled glass]
<https://www.theadanews.com/content/tncms/live/#2>

By Mackenzee E. Crosby | The Ada News Dr. Pappas uses a broom to unclog the
machine last Monday.


[image: image.png]
<https://www.theadanews.com/content/tncms/live/#3>

By Mackenzee E. Crosby | The Ada News Christine Pappas inserts collected
beer bottles into the Glass Gator glass grinder last Monday while dust from
the machine floats in the air above.


[image: image.png]
<https://www.theadanews.com/content/tncms/live/#4>

By Mackenzee E. Crosby | The Ada News Piles of recycled glass bottles take
up space in the ECU facility.


[image: image.png]
<https://www.theadanews.com/content/tncms/live/#5>

By Mackenzee E. Crosby | The Ada News A sample jar of crushed green glass.
The bottles used in the sample shown were not rinsed nor were the labels
removed. Beneath the larger chunks is a very fine sand. The pieces of glass
are smoothed and somewhat rounded while in the grinder and are not sharp to
the touch.



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East Central University students Delanie Seals, Tyson Hammonds and graduate
student Joseph Harris are assisting in the development of a glass bottle
crushing campaign.

By collecting glass from the community and crushing it to create sand, the
students will begin to research and demonstrate the feasibility and
opportunities that arise when using the product in city-wide
projects. Building, construction and artistic application are just a few of
the possible prospects.

"Our first set of experiments will be the use of concrete block molds. We
will test replacing sand in different proportions as we mix with cement to
make concrete blocks that could be used in landscaping," Dr. Christine
Pappas, professor of Political Science at ECU and head of the research
project, said.

Dr. Pappas won the Water Technology and Innovation award in The Big Pitch
Ada in 2018, and after writing a grant with the Ada Sunrise Rotary Club,
was able to purchase the Glass Gator glass grinder. After acquiring the
grinder, the City of Ada partnered with the organization on the grant,
allowing them to store the machine inside of the city armory, but never
granted permission for operations of the grinder inside of the facility.

"They were a good partner in acquiring the grinder and getting the project
started, but it took additional partners like the Oka institute and ECU to
really make this work," said Dr. Pappas last week.

With a goal to host four collection events throughout the summer, Pappas
and her student researchers aim to collect 10,000 cubic feet of glass
bottles from the Ada community to keep out of landfills, which are close to
full.

Many cities, such as our own, cannot afford to recycle glass in their
municipal recycling programs due to a collapsed glass market, because of
this glass continues to pile higher in landfills. The faster our nation's
landfills become full, the more money cities will have to spend building
additional landfills.

Sources suggest that it can take up to one million years for a glass jar or
bottle to adequately biodegrade. Our cities can substantially reduce the
geography of a single landfill just by grinding the glass within it into
sand, and replacing it.

"Although I feel that the world is temporary, being good stewards of the
resources we have is important," said Harris, a Water Resource Management
and Policy graduate student.

Harris expresses curiosity for whats to come, "I know that once we get
started its going to open a lot of doors. For people to see whats going on
will bring ideas that we haven't thought of yet in just our small group."

Dr. Pappas also expressed hopes of inspiring Adans to participate by
allowing citizens to reuse their own crushed glass for personal projects –
gardening, artistic endeavors and more. It is possible that Adans could
bring their recyclable glasses to the school and take their product home in
one trip.

This project will push a narrative towards recycling glass to create sand
in place of consistent sand mining, which can cause environmental
damage. In coastal cities, such as Tulane, Louisiana glass recycling is
used to replenish beaches after coastal erosion.

While Ada is lacking in beaches, recycling glass in rural areas has the
potential to prevent sand mining from damaging groundwater resources.
Sensitive aquifers – like the Arbuckle-Simpson – could one day be breached
by mining, risking contamination of the groundwater. If that were to
happen, it would directly and immediately affect our city.

This project was made possible with a Summer Research Grant from the Oka'
Institute that aided in the purchasing of supplies and the hiring of two of
the three research assistants. All three students will present research
based on the project in the fall.
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