Andrew Cao Landscape Artist, Glass Garden, Los Angeles, California Stephen Jerrom Artist, Glass Garden, Los Angeles, California "Diverting Discarded, Recyclable Glass Away from Landfills by Making Glass Tiles for the Consumer Market" Category: Waste Minimization and Management: 2000

Although cities nationwide have glass recycling programs that collect tons of container and industrial glass daily, up to three-quarters of this glass still ends up in landfills. Currently, new glass containers are made using only 27% recycled glass before they are introduced back into the consumer market. Because glass does not degrade like other material, it is undesirable in landfills. Therefore, finding alternative uses for this potentially recyclable glass is an important step in saving valuable landfill space for other waste. To date, Andrew Cao and Stephen Jerrom have already created 100% recycled glass pebbles for gardens, planters and broad landscape applications. In this project they propose the development of other uses for this plentiful, yet under-used resource - glass tiles, bricks and pavers. An estimated 400 tons of recycled glass is available to them for their research from the largest glass recycling company in the world. A prototype of a glass brick, (suitable for walking on or for interior decoration) has already been developed. Their goal is to bring the first 100% recycled glass tile to the middle class, home-improvement market, that is stylish, versatile, and most importantly, affordable.