Eco-manager hopes glass landscaping will catch on
EVAN HARDING
What is believed to be Invercargill’s first glass garden has been laid, and the man behind it thinks more green-fingered city residents will soon get their own glistening gardens.
Ian Beker has spread a tonne of glass on top of his garden as a colourful alternative to bark chips or crushed gravel, to help stop the weeds growing.
Mr Beker, general manager of Southland DisAbility Enterprises, which sorts and sells the city’s recyclables, hopes his use of glass will become more popular.
Southland DisAbility Enterprises used to dump about 120 tonnes of glass a month into the ground as cleanfill, while another 108 tonnes of glass was so contaminated it was taken straight to a dump near Winton every month.
It was costing thousands of dollars a month to get rid of the glass, he said.
However, the Invercargill City Council lent Southland DisAbility Enterprises $40,000 to buy two machines, a glass crusher and a glass pulveriser, which the company has been using since January.
The pulverised glass is given to Invercargill company Allied Materials, which is endeavouring to onsell it as a low-cost alternative for landscaping, Mr Beker said. And the crushed glass is given to another Invercargill company, Southern Aggregate, to mix with their roading material.
“Every tonne which we divert from going to landfill is a bonus. We are trying to get to where we can process the glass in a cost-neutral basis and possibly in time it may become a valuable resource with a retail value.”
He hopes the idea of glass in gardens could catch on in Southland.
“The key is that the weeds don’t grow through the garden and it looks pretty, it sparkles in the sun, it’s maintenance free and the birds don’t scratch in it.”
The glass was pulverised so was not sharp, and Mr Beker said he could walk barefoot in his garden without getting cut. The glass did not blow on to the driveway as bark chips had, he said.
“It’s in everybody’s best interests to be using this glass instead of dumping it.”
Councillor Carolyn Dean said glass had been an issue in the city since the mid-1990s when it became too costly to send to Auckland. A goal of the council’s was to reduce waste to landfill and she planned to invite Mr Beker to share his ideas with city councillors.
“This is about finding ways we can actually use waste as a resource which has value to people.”
– © Fairfax NZ News
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