Shoreline erosion is a major issue in freshwater lakes in Upstate New York, and it will only continue to worsen with climate change and population growth. Unfortunately, the sand that is used to restore these shorelines is a scarce finite resource. To address this issue, our research worked to better understand the feasibility and safety of using recycled glass sand, or glass cullet, as a sustainable sand substitute in freshwater ecosystems. We discovered that restoration specialists are interested in using glass sand in their projects if it is deemed safe, and that going through regulatory agencies will be a time- consuming process if recycled glass sand is deemed ecologically safe. We also found that the volume of available glass material and transportation costs would be the biggest barriers for implementation in restoration projects.
