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Keep Franklin County Beautiful pitches glass-to-sand recycling pilot; seeks $30,000 matching grant and county partner
Summary
A local nonprofit proposed a staffed county pilot to collect glass and aluminum and crush glass into sand for local use or sale; pilot data show about 30,000 lb of glass collected in one year at a single Apalachicola drop-off and the group asked the county to help test scaling and storage options.
Keep Franklin County Beautiful asked the Board to partner on a year-long pilot to restore county glass-and-aluminum recycling and to explore turning crushed glass into construction-grade sand.
Executive Director Lynn Wilder described an informal pilot at the Apalachicola Yacht Club where volunteers collected roughly 30,000 pounds of glass and about 3,200 pounds of aluminum in one year. "We have collected in one year about 30,000 pounds of glass," Wilder said, and she argued that repurposing that material locally could save landfill space, reduce truck trips and create a product useful for parks, dune restoration and infrastructure work.
Wilder outlined a draft operating model: two staffed drop-off locations, scheduled drop-off windows (to prevent illegal dumping), baling or recycling aluminum for sale, and an on-site pulverizer/crusher to turn glass into sand. She provided a budget ballpark: an industrial pulverizer at roughly $250,000 and an additional $20,000–$30,000 for truck/trailer equipment. Keep Franklin County Beautiful is seeking a $30,000 matching grant from the Glass Recycling Foundation to help with capital purchase; the foundation requires a match.
County landfill staff told commissioners they believe temporary storage is feasible but would require consultation with FDEP and would likely need a defined plan for quality control and reuse. Commissioners asked staff to evaluate permitting and storage constraints, potential uses for the crushed glass, and whether a modest county pilot (two drop-off locations) should be funded or managed by a nonprofit partner.
Why it matters: glass recycling has collapsed in many markets; a local crushed-glass supply could reduce landfill volume and provide a locally sourced aggregate for select uses, but up-front equipment costs and regulatory approvals must be resolved before scaling.
Next steps discussed: staff to evaluate DEP permitting and landfill storage options, and Keep Franklin County Beautiful to pursue the Glass Recycling Foundation grant and return with a formal pilot budget and operations plan.
