Lafayette Consolidated Government and Backyard Sapphire, a homegrown Lafayette glass recycling business, are teaming up to fill sandbags. Since February 2021, Tina Crapsi and Dawn Vincent have run Backyard Sapphire, literally in their backyard, where they recycle heaps of bottles into beach- and pebbled-sized mulch. Nine monts later, the business expanded to include crushing glass into sand, which Lafayette Consolidated Government is now using to fill sandbags at the Dean Domingues Compost Facility.  “Collaborating with Tina and Dawn is a great way to support a local business and divert tons of glass from landfills,” Environmental Quality Supervisor Bess Foret said. “LCG will continue to receive sand from other sources, but this partnership allows us to provide an end use for glass that would otherwise not be recycled.” 

An average collection week for Crapsi and Vincent nets between a half ton to one ton of glass bottles. “We want to lower the negative impact our community has on the earth. Our goal is to coordinate with the community to divert glass from our landfills. One way to do this is to use the sand to create a highly demanded, useable product – sandbags! We are so excited to be part of this full circle and look forward to more projects to reuse glass,” Crapsi said. The couple offers curbside pickup services for residents and businesses in the Lafayette area and has a drop-off site twice a week at Fightingville Fresh Market at 315 West Simcoe Street. 

“After Tina and Dawn reached out to LCG, I was so excited to meet them and learn about their process and get the partnership underway. This is truly a win-win for the Lafayette area, because no other glass recycling options are available,” Foret added.