Meraux Foundation Supports Glass Recycling in St. Bernard Parish, Donates $1.7M to Parish for Road
The Meraux Foundation is delighted to support plans for Glass Half Full, a pioneering glass recycling business, to locate in St. Bernard Parish.
"We are thrilled to be helping Glass Half Full locate to St. Bernard Parish," said Rita Gue, President of the Meraux Foundation. "With our support, Glass Half Full will not only establish a new business in our community, creating jobs and tax revenues, it will also further cement our parish as a center for coastal restoration solutions.”
Glass Half Full won the annual Startup St. Bernard pitch competition in 2021, an event created and sponsored by the Meraux Foundation. Since then, the two organizations have been working diligently to actualize plans for a glass recycling facility in St. Bernard Parish.
A crucial step in this endeavor is the creation of a business park on Paris Road, providing a prime location for Glass Half Full and other businesses to thrive. To facilitate this development, the Meraux Foundation generously donated $1.75 million to parish government for the construction of the necessary infrastructure.
"We are incredibly grateful for the Meraux Foundation, which has been instrumental in advancing our plan to locate in St. Bernard Parish. With their support, we look forward to bringing our base of operations here and expanding our capacity to recycle glass and provide materials that aid in restoring our coast," said Franziska Trautmann, Glass Half Full’s co-founder and CEO.
In addition to supporting Glass Half Full's location to St. Bernard Parish, the Meraux Foundation has partnered with the business to provide a drop-off hub for glass recyclables in the parish. Conveniently situated at the Meraux Foundation’s Docville Farm at 5124 E St. Bernard Hwy. in Violet, this hub is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (excluding holidays, including the upcoming closure around Memorial Day).
Glass Half Full aims to utilize recycled glass sand to aid in the restoration of Louisiana's eroding shoreline. This sustainable approach provides an alternative to traditional sand extraction methods that harm local ecosystems, exacerbate coastal erosion, and incur significant financial costs.
To date, Glass Half Full has diverted over 7 million pounds of glass from landfills. In 2023 alone, they collected more than 3.6 million pounds of glass for recycling into sand, supporting coastal restoration efforts, disaster relief initiatives, the production of new glass products, and more.
This collaboration perfectly aligns with the Meraux Foundation's commitment to coastal and environmental preservation, as it continues to safeguard and restore habitats throughout St. Bernard Parish.