Upon recycling the glass will be used in the local construction industry, providing a substitute for crushed aggregate for pipe laying or concrete.

The establishment of local facilities will also reduce costs and energy currently used in transporting glass for recycling to South Australia, Augusta-Margaret River Shire staff said.

Shire services manager Brendan Mohr says the local glass crushing operation should start in September this year and be in full production by February 2009.

“The glass crusher will also provide an opportunity for other councils to recycle their glass in the South West instead of sending it interstate which currently is uneconomical,” he said.

The shire allocated $90,000 toward to the project and received $126,464 in joint funding from the National Packaging Covenant and the Department of Environment and Conservation.

The National Packaging Covenant is an initiative between governments and industry aiming to recycle, reuse, recover and re-design packaging.

“The covenant currently funds more than 50 projects across Australia worth $47 million which investigate better ways to divert packaging from landfill,” covenant chief executive officer Ed Cordner said.

“These projects have the potential to stop more than 500,000 tonnes of consumer packaging from ending up in landfill each year.”