Disney World turns glass into sand material to repair roads

ORLANDO, Fla. — Walt Disney World is using some magic to turn glass jars and bottles into a sand-like substance used for roads and trails.

OK, maybe magic and some heavy equipment. A pulverizer is used to crush glass into gravel and sand-like materials.

"This isn't pixie dust, but it is certainly part of the Disney magic," said Jarrod Stewart, an environmental integration project manager at Walt Disney World.

Disney is collecting glass bottles and jars from recycle bins at Fort Wilderness and dumping it into this container. pic.twitter.com/jEyt20A8Q3

It's a pilot program, collecting just about any glass — except glass slippers — from recycling bins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. It's dumped into a container where it goes up a conveyor belt to be pulverized into tiny pieces the size of a grain of sand or a small piece of gravel.

"I can pick it up, I can squeeze it, no sharp edges on any of it," said Stewart.

It takes under a minute to turn a broken glass jar into soft sand-like material.

The glass is pulverized into gravel and sand-like material. pic.twitter.com/RTE2EGKnPP

"I grew up coming to Disney two or three times a year," said Stewart. "And it's sort of fun to think about all that fun I had here growing up and now bringing it full circle. Not only working here, but working toward helping the company meet goals."

One of those goals is zero waste to landfill by 2030.

At Walt Disney World, they get over 2,000 tons of glass a year.

Currently, the gravel and sand-like material is being used to fill holes on gravel roads at Disney's Fort Wilderness.

"It makes a very angular sand and it seems to stay in some of the patched-in areas a little bit better than the other materials we’ve been using (for roads)," said Stewart.

The glass-made material is also being used on horse trails at Fort Wilderness.

Disney may use the pulverized glass for roadbeds, filtration systems and sidewalks in the future. You can watch my full report tonight on @MyNews13. pic.twitter.com/FCwvJsO4L1

"It's very exciting to see it come this far," he said. "I’ve been working on this project from the very concept of it."

In the future, this glass mixture might be used in roadbeds, filtration systems and sidewalks.

Right now, only glass collected at Fort Wilderness is being pulverized into sand, but if this pilot project proves successful, then they’ll start collecting from other areas of the resort.