Why recycling sand is good for the environment and business

Every winter in North Texas, highway authorities spread sand across highways in order to improve traction when the temperature goes below freezing causing slippery conditions, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Every spring, the authorities sweep up the sand, which by then has become mixed with trash the people tend to pitch by the side of the road, and then pay dearly for having it deposited in a landfill. This practice leads to a common question: Is sand recyclable?

But now the North Texas Tollway Authority is setting out a way on how to dispose of the sand. Instead of taking the dirty sand to a landfill, the NTTA is sweeping up the sand, debris and all, and is taking it to a contractor that ordinarily uses his equipment for mulching. The dirty sand is dumped into a rotating cylinder for sand recycling. The cylinder pushes the sand through a fine mesh. Pure sand is allowed to pass through, while the trash and debris are diverted to a dump truck which takes it away. The recycled sand is then stored for reuse in the following winter, answering the question ‘Can sand be recycled?’ with a resounding yes.

It turns out, as it often does; that recycling makes good business sense as well as being good for the environment. The sifting process costs the NTTA $10,000. However, the state authority saves $60,000 in the cost it would take to dispose of the old sand and then acquire new sand for the following winter.

The NTTA is recycling 3 million pounds of sand, which is not being taken from somewhere else, for reuse. The expectation is that once cities and other government entities find out how much it saves money; they will start to follow suit in their sand waste disposal.