El Paso get ready to recycle your glass

District 7 City Council Representative, Lily Limón, has convinced the City Manager to try a pilot glass recycling program in El Paso. A glass crusher is scheduled for delivery to El Paso on Nov. 20th and will be ready to operate in January. As this is a pilot, the glass crusher will be available at one of the citizen drop-off stations, probably on the eastside nearest to Environmental Services. That way the pilot program can be monitored more easily. People can separate and drop off their glass items. After crushing, people can come and scoop out as much crushed glass as they might want. Limón envisions a glass crusher at each of the citizen collection stations throughout El Paso. A glass crusher costs just $23,000 and the one for the pilot program will be less. 

Picture from the Las Cruces Sun-News. Note that the woman is handling the crushed glass with her bare hand.

There is a larger program now in operation in Las Cruces. The glass is finely crushed into a sand-like material which is not abrasive and poses no risk of injury. According to Patrick Peck, the Director of the South Central Solid Waste Authority in Las Cruces, people use it in landscaping for mulch, sand decorations or to replace gravel. A story in the Las Cruces Sun-News reports that the "glass cullet can be used in landscaping and as pipe bedding, as well as being melted down and reformed into art pieces and even tile for mosaics. Cullet can also be used as an additive in concrete, pavement, and other building materials like insulation." 

Peck told me that the plant at first couldn't keep up with demand and now there is still a waiting list. Both the City of Las Cruces and Doña Ana County also have uses for the processed glass.

City Representative Limón is a retired teacher and principal. She has volunteered with a variety of groups, including the Sin Fronteras Organizing Project, UTEP Alumni Association, El Paso Commission for Women, Hispanic Leadership Institute and the United Way.


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