Glass Bottle Recycling

[Linda]

Glass bottle recycling

I have been working on recycling machines, and have built a machine that turns glass bottles to sand.  Glass takes up a lot of space in landfills and reportedly, takes a million years to disintegrate.  I now have glass sand, and if anybody has a small cement project that requires sand.  I ask for a donation of $3. per (your) 5-gallon bucket.  With glass sand there is no sifting, as there are no rocks big or small.  My goal is to charge restaurants and taverns what they pay to have their glass hauled to the dump.  Some restaurants pay an average of $100/month to refuse companies.  I paid $300 for 2 new electric motors.  I have made concrete samples using regular sand and glass sand, and it looks the same.  I read that sand from the desert is not good for concrete as the edges are round.  Regular sand and glass sand have square edges and are good for concrete.  The internet says they use glass sand on golf course sand traps, as a top coat on lawns, in sand blasting, and of course asphalt and cement construction.  A big difference is my sand it's almost a powder and regular sand is more  granular, therefore glass sand is heavier comparing by      volume.  Glass sand in swimming pool filters, uses less, and I'd be interested to learn from those with such a filter, how it compares.

 

Everybody asks is it sharp or dangerous to handle?  That would make sense, but glass sand is no sharper than regular sand.  

 

The recycle center next to BBF Church rely on what China is accepting.  One time it takes glass bottles that are clear only, and next week it is no glass at all.  That recycle center has turned down pickle jars, while accepting clear wine bottles??

 

What also is depressing is that beer bottles only from National Brewery are returnable.  Corona, Heineken, Budweiser and all the imports are not returnable.

 

Tin and aluminum cans

I have built another machine that crushes cans, tetra-pak milk cartons, and more.  The whole idea is to reduce the space that these items take up.  When our Boquete recycle collects these items, they pay for a truck to haul this to the collection point near the border.   This cost is high and may negate any profit in collect-ing these items.  If the volume is reduced, less trips mean more profit.

 

This machine will crush 2-3 cans a second.  Unlike some can crushers that the can has to be perfect to fit in the devise, this machine takes them all.  Aluminum cans are mostly flattened and tin cans are greatly reduced in size.  It works best on rigid items and somewhat flattens a 3 liter plastic Coke bottle, but has no effect on small water bottles.

 

If you are interested in my project, or need some sand, contact me.

 

Joe Hart

6521-2649

[Linda]

 

First, I would like to say Thank You for all the interest in my crushed glass project!  

I got tons of responses to my post about turning glass to sand.  I did say it was labor intensive and I have hundreds of dollars invested.   Many people wanted to drop their wine bottles off at my house, but I do not have room in our 2 car garage to store boxes of bottles.  And I cannot store anything on the outside of our home.  Crushing bottles are labor intense as I explained in my first notice.  Besides dropping off boxes of bottles there were others that wanted free sand.  I have offered to sell bags of crushed glass as a replacement for sand for $3.00 a bag to help cover some of my cost.

 

I have happily taken bottles from friends but sorry to say I cannot service all of Boquete.  The Recycle group, which I helped develop with a few other great people in Boquete, are having their first recycling event this Sunday since the quarantine shut them down.

 

My goals are to find someone that wants to stop glass going to the dump, and make a business out of this.  

 

There are machines available that can grind all types of plastic, from PVC to plastic car bombers, as well as dirty, all types of plastics.  Then this is mixed with glass sand, and a coloring is added.  This is heated with used cooking oil, and the results are compressed into roofing tiles, or fence posts or plastic lumber.

 

The items are impervious to UV light, termites, incredible strong, and won't rot. That operation could put many people to work, and use all the glass bottles or window glass, as well as all types of plastic you could find in Boquete. 

 

Think about that!

 

Thanks,  Joe