Crushed recycled glass evaluated in recirculating filter

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Oswego, New York

The town of Oswego, New York, recently completed an evaluation of the use of crushed, recycled container glass cullet in a recirculating intermittent granular media filter. The recycled glass worked well as an effective alternative to natural or processed sand for wastewater treatment, concluded an article in a recent Small Flow Quarterly. In 1997, Oswego was under a legal consent to upgrade its wastewater facility. Later that year, the town built a 15,000-gallon/day recirculating intermittent granular media filter to replace the existing treatment plant. The recycled glass was tested in that plant. The filter media was made up of crushed, mixed-- color recycled container glass cullet.

The glass cullet met the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation requirements for intermittent stream standards. It also cost $12.50 less per ton than the natural sand available, and commonly used for such projects in central New York State. The crushed glass also appeared to be more durable and permeable than natural sand. It remains to be seen if the crushed glass filter will perform adequately in a once-through intermittent sand filter the report concluded.