Expleco is a New Zealand-based company specializing in the design and manufacturing of compact glass bottle crushers that turn bottles into a fine grade sand (with no sharp edges) that could be used by the construction industry. As such, these crushers help reduce pressure on global landfill and waterway catchments.
Perhaps the most interesting part is that the sand from crushed bottles is better than the ordinary sand because of its high silica content, which holds better with bricks and concrete.
The company had a relatively modest success in New Zealand, where it managed to sell about 300 machines to local businesses — though part of that has something to do with the muted economic conditions of the past few years
The real growth has been overseas, with export markets including island resorts in the South Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Maldives.
Expleco is also working to supply its glass-crushing machines to 50 hotels in New York City, and to supply 40 bars in a Texas football stadium.
Also, it is helping the Glass2Sand project in India, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of non-recycled glass bottles. Said initiative aims to reduce glass waste by collecting discarded glass bottles and crushing them into sand.
However, we would think Expleco’s most interesting project is with New Zealand beer company DB Breweries, which installed fancy-looking bottle crushing machines to turn their DB Export Beer bottles into usable sand.
Takeaway
Another obvious benefit of this machine is that it protects the environment, making sure those glass bottles don't end up in a landfill.
Expleco has managed to bring its fancy machine to many parts of the world, including New York, Houston, India and other places.
Action point
Procuring Expleco's machine could quickly get you and your career some green credentials while showing your municipality as a place that takes good care of the environment. A machine like this could be placed in the City Hall and other public buildings, inviting the public to crush their bottles and turn them into a construction material — all while making sure these same bottles don't end up in places where they would have to be manually picked up.
You could contact Expleco and ask them about distribution rights to bring one of their machines to the markets you serve. Every savvy municipality should want to have one of these machines placed in their City Hall and other public buildings to demonstrate how they care for the environment. Beyond the government, Expleco's machines could also be offered to businesses in areas your company "covers," most notably retailers, hotels, malls and other places where people congregate.