Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware Counties unveiled a new machine that will turn glass into sand, in turn supplementing a depleting resource and saving hundreds of thousands of pounds of landfill waste.

Three Goodwill stores will now operate a glass pulverizer to recycle donated glass that is deemed unsellable by the stores. The Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County, Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake and the Goodwill of Greater Washington will be the recipients of the company’s new initiative, with grant funding from Truist Bank.

An unveiling event was held May 23 at the Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County located at 400 Centerpoint Blvd. in New Castle.

How does the machine work?

An estimated 350,000 pounds of glass donated to the Goodwill in Delaware makes its way to the landfill at some point.

“In most stores glass is either broken and can’t be reused or didn’t sell in the store,” said Colleen Morrone, CEO of the Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County. “Previously we put it in the landfill. But now we’re taking glass here and are able to do something else with it.”

The glass pulverizer, aptly named Sandy, is able to implode shards of glass and revert it into soft sand or gravel that can be further repurposed for other uses. The $86,000 machine is able to accept up to 1.5 tons of glass and convert it to its original form.  

Three branches of Goodwill stores received the $1 million grant from Truist Charitable Fund to pay for the machines themselves and for sustainable workforce training. Morrone estimated that around 1,500 employees will be trained in using the pulverizer, while also expanding their general sustainability knowledge.

“We can train all of our workforce in all of our retail stores and operations centers in sustainability issues, how to be better stewards for the environment and teaching how to bring sustainability into the workplace so they can utilize it at work and at home,” Morrone said.

Too much glass, not enough sand

Not everything donated to Goodwill can be resold or reused. In fact, a bulk of Goodwill Delaware’s 550,000 annual donations end up in landfills.

The organization has already begun efforts to reduce textile waste by partnering with the University of Delaware’s Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies to recycle the fibers of unused garments.

Sand is the second-most used natural resource in the world, behind water, according to a UN 2022 report. It’s is also being used at an ever-increasing rate of 6% every year, a rate that could become unsustainable.

For coastal states like Delaware, which is particularly susceptible to sea level rise, sand is heavily used in shoreline restoration projects and erosion control around the coastlines. Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control oversees dozens of projects per year restoring the coastlines with the sand they need to protect nearby infrastructure.

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Multiple dredging projects are also underway to collect sand from the ocean and use it for shoreline control. Morrone hopes that this could be one of the ways the new sand pulverizer machine could be useful to the local community.

“We have a lot of beaches here in Delaware, so we’re looking at all of our opportunities and trying to find the best for us here to make Delawareans feel good about donating to Goodwill,” Morrone said.

The sand and gravel created with the glass pulverizer can also be used for construction, landscaping, mulching and home gardening projects.  

Molly McVety covers community and environmental issues around Delaware. Contact her at mmcvety@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety.