AeroAggregates, a glass recycling company, has doubled its operations at the former Baldwin Locomotive Works building in Eddystone, writes Andrew Maykuth for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The company opened North America’s first plant to recycle glass into a lightweight construction material. The kilns are used to crush mixed glass collected from curbside recycling programs and turn it into a foamed glass aggregate. The new and the existing kilns can consume around 32,000 tons of mixed glass annually.

According to Archie Filshill, chief executive and co-founder of AeroAggregates, this is the equivalent of around 140 million empty beer bottles or around a case of beer a year for each person in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

Filshill said that the foamed glass materials have started gaining wider acceptance in construction projects. The material – which looks like a gray, lightweight rock – is also being used for landscaping and on green roofs.

The company now plans to add three employees to its existing workforce to make and market the material.

“I think a lot of people were waiting to see if we’d make a go of it, and the success has kind of proven itself out in the field,” Filshill said.

Read more about AeroAggregates in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.