A bottle tossed away in New Orleans does not necessarily have to end its life in a landfill. A project launched in 2020 is giving discarded glass a second purpose; crushing bottles into sand that can be used in coastal restoration. Glass Half Full, founded by Tulane University students Franziska Trautmann and Max Steitz, has grown from a small backyard operation into a larger recycling programme. In February 2026, Tulane University reported that the initiative had diverted more than 12 million pounds of glass from landfills. The project is now turning a common waste stream into material that can support efforts to restore Louisiana’s vulnerable coastline.
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