How Does Broken Arrow Recycle Glass?
PIONEERING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY WITH CLOSED LOOP GLASS RECYCLING
The Benefits of Recycling Glass with Broken Arrow Glass
With Broken Arrow Glass 99% of your glass is made into a new raw material and/or upcycled into glass art to kept it out of the landfill. We are an open source business and you can see exactly what is happening with your glass recycling after it comes through our doors. Give us a follow on social media and join the journey of glass recycling with us today.
Broken Arrow Glass is proud to say that we utilize every part of a bottle. Making us a leading zero-waste, sustainable, and closed loop glass studio + glass recycling program + glass recycling processing facility in New Mexico.
WE UPCYLE GLASS :
Broken Arrow Glass upcycle's as much glass as we can! We create handmade home goods to give a second life to what would otherwise be byproducts of single use mass consumed glass containers.
Currently, we are able to upcycle about 200-600 bottles a month. As of September 2021, we are receiving about 2,000 to 3,000 bottles a month. This means that we have to also use other outlets to recycle glass.
The definition of upcycle means to "reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original." In order to upcycle bottle glass we cut, grind, and fire polish pre-made bottles into new things without melting down the whole bottle. We also have the ability to heat up the whole bottle and blow out the bottle into a new shape in the reheating chamber.
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WE CRUSH GLASS :
We have started crushing glass bottles into a cullet and sand so that the crushed glass can be utilized in a variety of different applications. Crushed raw glass material can be used in eco construction and landscaping. It can be used for art making, and it can be used for erosion control. We are still learning of new and innovative ways that crushed glass can be utilized in different applications so that it can be kept out of the landfill.
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WE MAKE TERRAZZO :
We crush all the tops of the bottles that we have cut off in the upcycling process and we utilize this glass and any excess bottles in our terrazzo. What is terrazzo? Concrete, sand, binder, and crushed glass. Cast into molds and then the surface of the concrete is polished out to reveal the stunning broken glass pieces
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WE ARE GOING TO BLOW GLASS :
By the end of 2022 our goal is to be melting down bottle glass and glassblowing any size and shape form that we want using molten recycled glass material. Currently we are not blowing glass with bottle glass because we are raising funding and saving money to buy/build the last of the equipment that our studio needs in order to run our own glassblowing studio. Until then, we only cut, grind, and fire polish pre-made bottles into new things without melting down the whole bottle. We also have the ability to heat up the whole bottle and blow out the bottle into a new shape in the reheating chamber.