Have you ever wondered what happens to the glass bottles and jars you put out for collection in your green crate each week?

These days they can end up in sandblasting and water filtration, as glass carpet, or as art and craftwork.

In the past, the glass was colour-sorted, broken down for more economic transportation and sent to Auckland to be remade as new bottles. But carting glass to Auckland for recycling is not the most efficient in terms of cost and local sustainability.

increased the need for Christchurch to develop local uses and markets for its glass.

The Recovered Materials Foundation (RMF), a not-for-profit trust, was set up by the Council to do this and has developed some diverse local uses for the glass collected at the kerbside.

Although today fewer and fewer bottles are designed to be reused, the kerbside collection system is designed to maximise the recovery of whole reusable wine and spirit bottles. Sorted at the RMF, the bottles are washed and sterilised for local markets such as Canterbury wineries.

Colin Maxwell from Ecotrenz has developed innovative uses for other whole bottles, such as outdoor candles and wine goblets.

Glass not suitable for reuse is crushed and screened and is replacing traditional materials. For sand-blasting, glass has been found to be a safer material to use than sand. In swimming pool filters such as the one at the Council’s Waltham Pool it is being used instead of quartz sand.

Richard Lloyd of Waitaha Glass produces a range of glass artworks and has developed a prototype of glass and glass/clay tiles, while local artist Sigmund Fuchs makes a range of quality ornaments, bowls and yard-glasses.

Palazzo Stone Carpets dyes finely crushed glass particles for use in waterproof mosaic flooring. This glass carpet is being used in the Recovered Materials Foundation’s visitor centre.

Trials have been done with ‘GlassPhalt’ — a mix of glass and asphalt. Because the glass reflects heat, it is thought to help prolong the life of the asphalt.

And crushed glass is being used for its visual effect in landscaping and trials are using coloured crushed glass in concrete pathing to produce patterns with a sparkly affect.

The RMF also gets one-off requests such as from the Wearable Arts exhibition held at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery to use crushed glass as a backdrop and from the Antarctic Centre, which uses crushed glass as a snow backdrop.

So, keep putting your glass bottles and jars in the recycling crate.

Don’t forget to rinse them and discard the lids. And, the next time you see them, who knows what shape they’ll be in.

For further information about recycling contact us at: waste@ccc.govt.nz or phone 941 8830.