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Glass Half Full

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Our goal is to raise $100,000 to modernize and scale up our operational capacity and create the first crowd-funded, sustainable glass recycling, and processing facility in the world

As seniors at Tulane University, we were disappointed and frustrated with New Orleans’ lack of glass recycling. One night, over some beers we knew would end up at the dump unless we did something about it, we hatched a plan to combat this problem.

Specifically, we wanted a system that was transparent, accessible, and most importantly, actually recycled glass into something functional. Instead of trying to take on the unrealistic task of reforming the current system, we decided to look at the glass half full by implementing our own grassroots glass recycling program.

What We Do
We collect NOLA’s glass and recycle it into sand and gravel for disaster relief, coastal restoration, eco-construction, new glass and so much more.

Our Impact:
(1) Divert glass waste from landfills, creating a circular economy of usable products that benefit our community and environment.
(2) Reinvest in Louisiana by producing sand critical to coastal restoration, disaster relief, eco-construction, and new glass products.
(3) Educate and engage New Orleanians to collectively address our state’s inadequate recycling system––Louisiana currently ranks 50th nationally for percentage of municipal waste recycled.

What This Fundraiser Lets Us Accomplish
- Build the first glass recycling processing facility in Louisiana and launch the first crowd-funded, grassroots recycling facility in the world.
- Invest in systems and technology with the capacity to process all of Louisiana's glass.
- Create a proof of concept for a system where glass waste is converted into sand aimed at restoring coasts.
- Radically transform the recycling industry into one motivated by environmental sustainability, not profit.


Our Challenges
Currently, we execute much of our process by hand––from sorting bottles to transporting tens of thousands of pounds of glass around the city.
We require the machinery necessary to automate our process and scale operations in order to achieve our vision of taking on the post-consumer glass of not just New Orleans, but the entire state of Louisiana.

We Need Your Help
We truly cannot do this without you. Please join us in transforming Louisiana from last place in municipal waste recycling to a global leader as we show the world that we can reinvent our broken recycling system.


Why you should support us
We have already demonstrated that the people of New Orleans want a glass recycling program and that we can successfully create sand and cullet from their glass. Most recently, we collected 15,000 pounds of glass in one day at our drop-off hub. We have created hundreds of sandbags and distributed them across the city. Now, we are ready to take our project to the next level with a more efficient machine to effectively recycle New Orleans' glass. 

Franziska is the engineer, Max is the businessman, and we are backed by hundreds of friends, family members, students, and TikTok followers. You could not invent a better team to tackle this problem in New Orleans. We are energized, smart, and tired of waiting for other people to make this planet a better place. The time is now to make glass recycling available to our entire city. 

Our team has been working all day, every single day of the week to make this dream a reality. We just need a push to get our operations up to scale. That’s where you come in! 


*Please note that Glass Half Full is an L3C organization and does not currently have tax-exempt status. Your donations are not tax-deductible.*
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Donations 

  • Lisa Wrobbel
    • $25 
    • 1 mo
  • Thomas Liebman
    • $250 
    • 1 mo
  • Adrienne Folse
    • $800 
    • 3 mos
  • Joe Childers
    • $25 
    • 3 mos
  • Anonymous
    • $36 
    • 3 mos
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Organizer

Glass Half Full
Organizer
New Orleans, LA

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