Glass bottles should be standardized so all you have to is clean the bottle and put a new label on it. If a company wants to have a cool different bottle, then they need to pay the cost for it to be recycled upfront.

Stealing an entire beach sounds like something out of Captain Planet. How utterly ridiculous that it happened.

I hope the glass half full people are wearing masks, that's a lifelong disease waiting to happen. silicosis is no joke.

As a kid, glass soda bottles were worth a lot of money! We would collect them and trade them in for soda at a local kiosk. Breaking a soda bottle as a child came with the risk of bodily harm.

2:40 "It's not rocket science, we're just moving dirt." I love that guy.

5:00 Respirators should be used in this facility, without question. They’re breathing glass dust without an N95 or better 😐

Just wanted to take a moment and say I appreciate the music in this video. Whoever edited it did a great job.

I hope the workers in the glass recycling industry protect their lungs from that silica dust.

Im from illinois and we have plenty of glass that needs recycled and I would love to try and get something going to help this out.

Great video highlighting an under reported problem. Glad people are taking some initiative to tackle the problem like glass half full.

Lightly mentioned the beaches in Florida and other areas, but didn't talk about the importance of not removing sand dunes or building on barrier islands.

This is fascinating, but I find myself wanting to learn more about why rounded sand isn't useful. I mean, I do get it - angular sand, not rounded, will "lock together" at a very tiny scale, increasing the strength of whatever you put it into (like concrete), but if we're melting sand for glass, why can't desert sand work for that? Time to go do a little research, hey! The big point though is exactly as you said - gaining a better appreciation for everything we take from the Earth is one very good way to start changing how we do everything.

Great documentary. Thank you for producing this

This video was well done but I wish you would have mentioned some more top-down solutions since this is clearly a systemic issue rather than an individual one. What type of policies should people be asking their representatives for or organizing around? I appreciated the bottom-up solutions mentioned such as small-scale glass recycling which is definitely one part of the larger solution...but not mentioning the systemic problems that lay the foundation for this level of resource exploitation to occur and the potential solution for that part of the problem is really disappointing. When you don't provide solutions for your viewers it leaves room for climate apathy, doomerism, and misinformed solutions. I hope you will improve upon this in your future videos since you have a very large audience and in turn a large responsibility.

Amazing episode. I was surprised at first about the glass sand being viable, and yet, it makes sense given it's mostly just sand to begin with.

In that last statement, you can either use less materials, or in start contrast to how the US operates, you can stop building low quality buildings which get demolished and replaced every 40 years, and instead build high quality solid and long lasting piece of architecture that will last for many hundreds of years like how we used to build buildings in Europe. It might use more materials now but over the long term it is far less wasteful

Wow. I wish I were about thirty years younger so I could start up a business like glass half-full. I had no idea this was such a huge problem. Thank you for this episode and pointing this out to me. Thank you Glass-Half-Full for doing something about it. 🍷⏳

"I don't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere."

In the san francisco bay we have the exact opposite problem. Se we straightened out the river removing the bends as these would slow the progress of the water and therefore it would flood every wet season. But now all that sediment get dropped off near the bay. In the brackish waters. They have to go out there and dredge it every so often otherwise we would be building islands out there, which is of course unacceptable in the middle of important shipping channels. We use the sediment we dredge out there to cover landfills and raise ground in low lying areas then build housing developments on top of these. In fact most of Elk Grove was once a low lying wetlands area until we filled it with trash and then covered it with dredge effluence. Every once in a while a piece of old trash will float up in my yard. I remember one year I was digging around and found strange piece of plastic. Turned out to be Kermit the Frog's eye. LOLs

This lady is the answer. Inspiring.

I’ve been able to almost completely eliminate buying food products in plastic containers. If it doesn’t come in a glass jar, can, or gabled carton, I don’t buy it. Like someone mentioned, those glass recyclers need respirators. Good report, thanks.

Very interesting video. I would like to share a childhood memory: In the 50's and 60's, when there was a construction boom in my country Greece, entire mountains were eaten away to make sand for building, leaving ugly scars on the faces of the mountains. These have been restored by now, some of them beautifully, but as a child, it made me feel really sad. Luckily, though my country has loads of sandy beaches, that kind of sand was supposedly no good for building due to too much salt content; thus beaches were saved, because we had a lot of mountains as well. I suppose we must keep an eye out for beach thieves!

A very sand poor area is Big Island Hawaii. Also no sand anywhere, even the beaches. Most are hard volcanic rock. The few sand beaches they have are course black sand and it only goes a few feet in the way, have to wear water shoes in the ocean

I had already heard of Glass Half Full. I think Business Insider did a piece on the company when they discussed flooding and inland floods regarding climate change and hurricane season and that sort of thing. Im eager to know it can help, but its not the main solution. We need to stop the hyper consumption of well, everything. I hope we can do better.

It’s always interesting to me that the solution to negative effects caused by humanity is more human intervention and attempts to be Mother Nature. It’s some degree of insanity tbh. Feels like a robbing Peter to pay Paul type of scenario.

A hidden note here; it had been in the back of my mind and this video brought it front and center. The amount of sand being used worldwide in concrete, has sequestered that sand for something like millennia, at least. This would be the largest depletive human use of sand, which recycling glass for sand can never overcome. Still, I think it is worthwhile, as the young lady from glass half full explains… In global struggles, every little bit helps!

Also I'm kind of alarmed at all the comments being about recycling, when the biggest problem is "we are using up finite resources at an alarming rate and something has to change". This is true of a lot of things, actually.

They URGENTLY need to start wearing respirators around that glass dust!

Others have said already, but: Wear feckin‘ masks if you don’t want to get sick and experience a slow and agonizing death.

I understand the need for sand to make concrete and glass, but using sand to restore beaches seems like a waste of the sand. Sea levels are rising and hurricanes are getting stronger, so humans should be moving away from the coasts instead of trying to save them.

Excellent!

Glass sand tends to be unusable for construction/concrete in that its too “smooth” or slick to hold together. I think they found this out when they tried to use “Glassphalt” in NYC … the aggregate (glass) just pressed its way out. Concrete itself is now being recycled for new aggregate in new concrete.

I hate sand. It's course, it's rough, it's irritating and it gets everywhere.

The one thing that they didn’t mention is, are they doing research to see if ground glass sand suitable for use in concrete? If the finest glass sand is good for recycling into more glass and the coarsest glass sand is good for beaches and wetlands restoration then couldn’t the municipal recycling programs fund themselves by selling those parts of the glass recycling and using what is left over in their municipal construction projects such as new sidewalks?

Getting materials for construction is actually a problem for Constructors like me today.

Glass bottles are the one thing that can be recycled without deterioration. Not doing it because we "can't afford it" is dumb. We can't afford to live on with our heads buried in the sand. We need to do the simple things, there are much more complicated challenges ahead than recycling glass bottles.

amazing video!!! everyone is so talented!!!

I've watched this channel for 2 years at least, and there seems to be consistent dumbing down of their content. The info, even the cadence and tone of the presenters speech, more and more sounds like childrens program.

The project to convert glass back into sand is FANTASTIC!! 💙🌎💙

When I saw the processing facility 4:11 , the first thing that came to mind was an old saying: "Don't breathe glass dust." Why don't they have any respiratory protection? The building doesn't look like it has any air filtration.

Please apologize a dumb question - but isn't 're-sanding' beaching nothing more than a matter of comfort rather then necessity?

this story makes me remember the "recycling wars" (coined by a friend). 2 companies stole each others trash containers and/or contents because it was basically free money (the trash truck would drive through there anyway and trash was auto sorted up to 90% at the facility) and the "war" kept going for 2 years or so until thepolice and DAs got involved. in the end both sides paid fines etc. and not even a decade later they merged... funniest story I ever heard lmao

Wonder if labels and stickers on the glass bottles have to be removed before the bottle is crushed.

Two comments, hopefully redundant! 1. ¿Do you remember the story about bulk carrier ships taking sand from Scotland to Saudi Arabia? The sand in Saudi Arabia is from a dried up ocean, and therefore contains salt. The cost/quantity of water needed to wash the salt down to a level useful in construction was greater than the cost of shipping salt-clean sand from Scotland. 2. ¿Do you remember the California gold rush? The layer of sediment laid down in San Francisco Bay 150 years ago contains so much mercury from the gold works that this sediment must not be disrupted. ¿Did I get this right?

Stripping Midwest farmland in La Salle County, Illinois and in Wisconsin for sand is not a solution, yet it's happening at an unprecedented rate.

My city stopped recycling glass because it has mountains of glass that no one will buy.

Mankind destroys everything he touches

I got my first driver’s license by collecting glass soda bottles. It’s a shame our drinks aren’t glass anymore instead of non recyclable plastic. The glass it seems to me keeps drinks colder and are recyclable.

They need to come dig where my kids play at, constantly getting tracked onto my floor 😤

I feel like something died inside me today. A greening video showing that we used petroleum to turn sand into glass and as an answer to that were using petroleum to turn glass into sand? Am I alone here?

Can the fine, smooth desert sand be crushed or modified to make it useable like rough beach sand?

Sand in toothpaste 🤯🤯🤯Mind blown!!. Thank You so much for the detailed information!!. I appreciate the work of all you guys!!.

Georgia has plenty of sand. We have sand dunes 30 miles inland from when sea levels were much higher.

Can you use wind-blown sand for coastal restoration?

Excellent video

Is the glass sand not sharp? Also At 5.30 in the video a worker is shown sifting glass sand without a mask. Wouldn't breathing glass dust at work everyday be a problem?

I remember hearing years ago that Singapore had stolen a Malaysian beach. I was surprised. I couldn't figure out why.

people need to remember the big infrastructure projects in the world today and in the future from sky scrappers, houses, roads we drive on all require cement/concrete-which requires of a lot of sand

I love he said he been at it for 6 years like it is alot people tried to warn about global warming in the 80s

This is all the more sad knowing that glass is one of the few infinitely recyclable materials in existence. Glass recycling should be a priority 1 industry. The issue is concrete. We use way, way WAY too much of it for everything when there are better solutions and materials.

People say that concrete cannot be recycled. Concrete is fairly inert and has a lifespan, but it still ends up in landfills.

For a great doc on this, check out "Sand Wars" It was really good, disheartening, but good.

The way you phrasing the IMF 😂😂

Who knew Sand was so important

Hey, y'all know what beach zombies crave for dinner? grrRRRAAAIIIiiinnnns!

Three things: 1. How energy intensive is sand dredging and recycling? 2. In my warped mind, I'm thinking about how many crack pipes and bongs are in recycled glass. 3. When someone tells me to "pound sand" I'll have to tell them we ran out.

The problem is known for decades. Some countries have even passed Federal Laws to stop removal of sand from most river banks. This created another crime type but that is another story. We need to recycle more and find/create new building materials and techniques.

Literally went to the comments to bring up Glass Half Full and then saw her face in the intro lol

A no for me. I don't want beaches with glass for sand. That is crazy to imagine. Has to be dangerous.

How bad does it have to get for people to start stealing beaches.... It is mad max, this world is done.

I'm confused about how simple of the solution it sounds to take all the sand that we took out of the ground via machines to make bottles and glasses and cups and dishes and other glass things and figurines and decorative pieces. And take all that out of the trash and put it back in the dirt how you say it's not going to help or make that big of a different that's where all the same came from by putting it back I wouldn't think it would help substantially we're not doing it on a big enough scale. All Glass eventually gets broken very few of it hangs out except in Windows and glass tables but other than that all other glass usually gets broken and thrown away there's so many beer bottles at bars restaurants casinos people's houses. We need to do it on a bigger scale like Nationwide.

Would also help if we stopped using so many resources for consumables. But I'm glad that some humans are doing something about the waste

Does the USA not have recycling bins at people houses? Where I am the recycling price is built into the up-front purchase of the beverage-container.

I had hoped for an answer to how much damage to the ocean ecosystem is caused by dredging, but alas

Making less concrete and using hempcrete instead could really help. Less sand would be needed. Hemp can offer a ton of healthy alternative building material. Hemp crete and insulation etc

Can concrete also be recycled? Fewer people would help as well.

0:23 "Sand is everywhere" *Anakin yelling...

Can you turn desert sand into glass?

I did hear abound sand shortage problem before, but it still surprises me. So that desert sand is not good for anything at all?, Not even for concrete production?! Also about the beaches restoration. If you shoot the sand from the ocean back to the beach, what happens to it that you need to bring it from inland after some time?, Certain points were not explained very well in my opinion.

To do my part, I've given up eating sand.

Used crushed glass is recycled sand. Why is there no good reuse pathway?

Or let the mississipi run its proper course. there LOTS of sediment being dumped at lake pontatraine outlet to the gulf. yet the coastal erosion is at the region by Atchafalya outlet to the Gulf. sadly, this would mean to go Game Of Throne and "Flood them all" but there just needs to be river discharge over there. idk why and how, but theres a reason why rivers change course every so often per hundreds of years. The Baton Rouge to New Orleans route is only economic, and while im from the Great BR area, water needs to alternate is discharge pattern. nature isnt set in a rigid order, it fluctuates. 1) oxbow lake 2) changes to its dischage routes and other beautiful randoms of water. source: just a kid who observed the rain on the window in a car. its meandering patter alternated depending on the intensity of the rain. always an S shape but its sometimes swerved to the right and other times to the left. i get it, engineers design for their desired end result, but they also gotta work WITH natural nature balance. texas has their barrier islands, but We Louisianaians gotta spend state and federal tax dollar to build up sand bars and barrier islands and coastlines that could be passively built up each year with river discharge sediment. yeah, i get it. the counter point is Economic Baton Rouge, Port Allen, New Orleans, and so many other cities along the current route would have a lower river. idk, cuz theres LOTS of moving parts going on. for 2023 the Drought is causing problems already and if my propsed idea were implemented it has SEVERAL short term human disadvantages. but im not a politician nor engineer so i literally dont even have the power to flood the folks of Henderson, Grosse Tete, Morganza, Lafayette, Butte La Rose and so on. (its a bit of rutal cities but still not cool to willfully flood them out) again, its to build up the coastline. barrier islands would save FEMA money on checks. idk. its just somewhat intuitive to me, why make humans work increasingly harder to yeild decreasing less results at increasing prices for something that nature does PASSIVELY. my biggest problem with my proposed idea, is the ethical implications and the economic casualties. deflating the very aspect of why the River Cities were founded in the first place. (cuz tbh im proud of being from a city where the biggest river of the US flows through) and kinda nose down Lafayette cuz of the puny Vermillion River or the nearby Atchafalya. but if you took a bottle of water and poured it down the window of your car, you would see that water MEANDERS. as such the consequences of binding the River to a this path means the discharge is not building the coastline up. which makes Hurricanes that much worse. since their enegry isnt buffered by sand bar barrier islands.

Okay, so where is all the sediment going that would naturally go to the mississippi river delta? It cant just be disappearing. Take it from whereever it is ending up and use it to rebuild the coast.

Also the building of homes so near the beach that happen so often in the US can and do affect, here at my country ever since we’ve been getting lots of Americans gentrifying our beach coast they’ve been illegally filling wetlands with beach sand which cause a huge problem in many ways these people don’t even care to understand…so building infrastructure should also consider if the location will unnecessarily make more use of sand by having to fill in the space completely while also destroying whole ecosystem that also protect communities from flooding

There is a sand pit in Dayton NJ along the Turnpike that ships sand to Saudi Arabia for use in water filtration

I wonder if glass sand could be mixed in some process with desert sand to make desert sand more viable

I didn’t realise the coastal erosion of Louisiana was so intense. And that’s with the reconstruction efforts… More people who think sea level rise isn’t real need to understand sea level rise doesn’t mean constant flooding (in most places), but it means receding coastlines!! That said, I do wish PBS with its reputation for accuracy would say “Queen of the UK” not “Queen of England”. I don’t even like having a monarchy, I wish we didn’t have one (I guess that makes me a republican, though not a Republican!), but the phraseology does minimise how important Scotland was in its history.

and the unremarked elephant in the room? the personal vehicle. which accounts for a large proportion of poured concrete. among the many other environmental problems that have been created to serve that addiction.

Dubia be buying up a lot of sand as well

Anakin must be happy

Can these people working with the glass recycling please get some safety breathing masks that fine dust floating about like that get into your body and causes severe health problems and damages the air sacks in your lungs. otherwise thanks for video

Can somebody 'splain to me how come it's more Reagonomical to make glass out of virgin sand than out of recycled glass?

Recycling sand and sell as a soil amendment at Home Depot Lowes Costco.

So wait, if we need to consume less sand what do we replace it with? If the demand is there something else needs to take it's place. Otherwise sand will continue to be consumed until it's exhausted.

If someone could come up with a process that would turn desert sand into beach sand... Then someone would likely try to steal a desert.

Another Example of How Important sand is ....Sand is what we use for Ground Water Monitoring Wells to protect our drinking water ...and Tons of other types of wells that are important ...

The solution is simple: used grown sea shells aka lime for concrete vs sand. Ask me how if you don’t know how.

As said here the desert sand is not very good but can't we figure a way to use at least a part of our needs by using desert sand? This can also help to stop the desertification of some areas around the world.

This would make Anakin happy.

so... where does it go?