Recycled glass to Chch

A new purpose-built facility in Christchurch is set to take all of South Canterbury’s kerbside collected glass.

The facility, opened by Christchurchbased 5R Solutions last week, will double the company’s capacity to recycle glass.

The company has recently signed agreements to take all of the glass collected kerbside in the Timaru, Mackenzie and Waimate districts. ‘‘That equates to around 3000 tonnes of glass per year,’’ the company said in a press release.

Attempts to get comment from the three district councils about the recycled glass changes were unsuccessful.

The glass the company processes gets made into Pink Batts, new glass bottles and is used on sports turfs and golf course bunkers and in sandblasting and pool filters. Manager Chris Grant said it was an ‘‘exciting’’ announcement.

‘‘The new factory is capable of packing more than 150 shipping containers full of crushed glass, each month.’’

Grant added the business already stops 55,000 tonnes of glass from going to landfills every year.

‘‘That’s enough glass to fill 22 Olympicsized swimming pools or nearly 230,000 wheelie bins, this new facility means we will eventually double those numbers.’’

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said 5R is a good example of the practical ways companies can help to reduce waste ending up in landfills.

‘‘It’s great to open this new purposebuilt recycling facility which will increase the amount of glass and other valuable materials being diverted from landfills. It means that glass put out on the kerb by residents in parts of mid and south Canterbury will be given another life.’’