By MAGGIE GALEHOUSE Mark Austin does not drink alcohol. But two mornings a week, his clothes drenched with the dregs of hundreds of beer and wine bottles, he smells like a bad hangover. “Handling glass is a pain,” Austin concedes, as he hoists tubs of empty bottles from the alley behind Shade restaurant into the [...]
By Mark Austin does not drink alcohol. But two mornings a week, his clothes drenched with the dregs of hundreds of beer and wine bottles, he smells like a bad hangover.
“Handling glass is a pain,” Austin concedes, as he hoists tubs of empty bottles from the alley behind Shade restaurant into the back of his truck. “It’s heavy, awkward, difficult to move.”
Austin, 54, is the founder of We CAN Recycle, a Houston nonprofit that picks up empty bottles from local businesses and drops them at a glass recycling plant on the South Loop, where they’re sold to Longhorn Glass Corp. and melted to make bottles for Anheuser-Busch. A self-proclaimed old hippie, Austin loves the idea that pricey bottles of wine from Italy and France are transformed into frosty longnecks sweating on Houston bars.
“There’s just a huge need for recycled glass in this town,” he says.
Last August when he started his business, Austin collected aluminum cans – hence the company name. But when the global economy tanked and the price of aluminum dropped from 75 cents to 20 cents a pound, he turned his attention to glass, where prices have remained stable: $10 a ton for green glass, $25 a ton for clear glass, and $35 a ton for brown and amber.
Austin hauls about four tons a week to 825 South Loop West, where a handful of companies work together to give glass a second life. Strategic Materials buys the glass, Reflective Recycling of Texas processes it, and Abrasive Warehouse & Equipment uses some of it for sandblasting products.
Austin collects glass on Mondays and Thursdays, starting at 5 a.m. By midmorning, he’s pulling into the recycling place with a pickup and trailer full of empties.
Once the load is weighed, he backs into the glass yard and tosses the bottles onto the ground, where they’re bulldozed into a big, dusty pile of shards. The shattering glass is so loud he wears earmuffs. Thick gloves, long pants and steel-toed boots also are required.
It’s a smelly, dirty job, but he knows there’s a need for his service.
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Josh - Electronic Recycling Advocate
July 28th, 2009
This is a great introspective on one guy making a difference by simply recycling glass.
I too, enjoy the irony of wine bottles turning into beer bottles.
Well done,
Josh