Fundraiser for Ground2Ground Glass Sand Phase Two

A little over a year ago, Ground2Ground Glass partnered with twelve wineries throughout the Walla Walla Valley to develop a sustainable recovery and processing system to alleviate some of the glass entering our local waste stream. During the peak tourist season, these twelve wineries alone produce over 450 pounds of glass bottles every week. Last year, Ground2Ground diverted over 10 tons of wine bottles from entering our landfill. But that’s only a drop in the wine barrel. With over 120 wineries in the valley, the amount of wine bottles entering our landfill each week is staggering.

Ground2Ground collects and processes these bottles into a sand consistency which has been approved by the WA State Department of Ecology for a number of applications where natural sand would typically be required. This material is a stable, nontoxic, amorphous and an environmentally sustainable alternative to natural river or ocean sand.

Ground2Ground has the capabilities to increase our partnerships but are looking to local and state government agencies to literally spread the word about glass sand by using it in their Public Works and Parks and Recreation projects. Large amounts of this material could be used in below grade utilities bedding for new housing construction or in public pool filtration systems, as a material for permeable pathways in our parks as well as parking lots. However, local and state government agencies as well as large building and landscape contractors must adhere to the Qualified Products List issued by the Washington State Department of Transportation and currently glass sand is not on that list.

In order to meet the DOT standards, glass sand must be tested at the state laboratory and each test could run into the thousands of dollars.  To that end, Ground2Ground is reaching out to the GoFundMe Community to ask for a bit of financial help to take this project to the next level.