Glass bottles in, sand out – Disney World is crushing glass to make pathways and more in its latest sustainable move

When you consider the impact of technology and research at Disney Parks, discarded glass bottles are probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Perhaps you’re not seeing all that glass the way Disney does.

Disney is now busy pulverizing a portion of those glass bottles; nearly 2,000 pounds can be crushed in an hour and repurposed for use in other areas, potentially on horse trails, as a replacement for the floor in a greenhouse, or even where mulch once was.

The industrial machine – a glass pulverizer – is located in a backstage area at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort in Orlando, Florida, out of sight from guests. It's pretty low-tech, with no high-tech components in use.

All that crushed glass eventually becomes a somewhat shiny, clean, sand-like material. "We've got one greenhouse almost complete with pulverized glass," said Debbie Mola Mickler, area manager at Disney's Horticulture. "Cast members ask me questions about it because they walk by and their natural reaction is, 'Wow, your greenhouse floor is glistening.'"

And that's the product produced by the glass pulverizer.

This project started when other environmental teams at Disney asked what to do with the glass, explained Jarrod Stewart, Disney's Environmental Integration Project Manager.

"Could we pulverize it? Use it potentially for road repair, other things?" were the questions proposed to Stewart.

Thus began a search for a machine that could take a bottle of wine with a wax seal still around the top and a label on the front, separate it, and then safely crush the glass to disperse a sand-like material.

"I stumbled across the type of machine that we're running here that separates all those non-glass items," he said. "It actually discharges the labels and all that, all that separately."

The result is a sand-like material that can blend with coquina or replace mulch – no high-tech sensors required. "There is no smart equipment on this machine whatsoever – not even in the control panel," Stewart said.

At the core is a patented hammer mill. "The glass bottle is gone, but the wax is still intact, even with the drips and everything coming off of it," Stewart said. "It's a very interesting percussive action… that is the patented part of the machine."

As more teams across the Disney World property heard about the pilot, interest grew. Debbie Mola Mickler saw it on the news and immediately called Stewart to request a test batch for the greenhouses and the horticulture team. The catering team wanted to be included, too, offering a transportation solution: "They said, 'You know what, our trucks are running around the property all day… We'll just drop off the full bins and pick up the empties as we're driving by," Stewart said.

The pulverizer's output is now used in select areas that guests can see. "We've used it in a couple of on-stage locations," Stewart explained. "One in Fort Wilderness, where it's actually replacing mulch around the food truck pad." In this case, it's a more permanent solution, as mulch would eventually need to be replaced due to wear and tear.

Behind the scenes, Imagineering and Disney's facility teams are exploring even more uses, including non-structural concrete or footpaths. It could even end up at other Disney locations worldwide and even on the sea, courtesy of Disney Cruise Line – either with the produced sand-like material being used or with the glass being sent to be pulverized.

"The sustainability design team is determining how it can be used to work toward sustainable design goals that they have by using recycled material in construction," Stewart said.

While the pulverizer remains in a backstage area, the initiative's impact is increasingly visible.

"You know, sometimes when you ask people to sort their waste into yet another, you know, separate category, they're a little hesitant, or you might get a little pushback," Stewart said.

"In this case, because people see it, they're identifying with the story. They want to be part of it. So we're getting calls every week of, ‘Hey, can we participate in this? How do we help this grow? ‘”

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