Aug. 27, 2007 — Picture a beautiful beach spanning miles of coastline, gently lapped by aqua-colored water — and sprinkled with glass.
Ouch? Think again. It feels just like sand, but with granules that sparkle in the sunlight.
Faced with the constant erosion of Florida's beaches, Broward County officials are exploring using recycled glass — crushed into tiny grains and mixed with regular sand — to help fill gaps.
It's only natural, backers of the idea say, since sand is the main ingredient in glass.
"Basically, what we're doing is taking the material and returning it back to its natural state," said Phil Bresee, Broward's recycling manager.
The county would become the first in the nation to combine disposal of recycled glass with bolstering beach sand reserves, Bresee said.
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"You reduce waste stream that goes to our landfills and you generate materials that could be available for our beaches," said Paden Woodruff of the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Sand is a valuable commodity in South Florida, where beach-related business generates more than $1 billion a year for Broward alone.
