Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode "How taking a second look can change your everything"
Louisiana has two problems: an eroding coastline and limited glass recycling. Engineer Franziska Trautmann is solving both by turning bottles into beach sand.
About Franziska Trautmann
Franziska Trautmann is a chemical engineer and the cofounder of New Orleans-based glass recycling company Glass Half Full. She has turned millions of pounds of glass into sand to be used for coastal restoration, disaster relief and construction in Louisiana and beyond. Backed by the National Science Foundation, her team has completed four coastal restoration projects and restored over an acre of coastline.
This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Kai McNamee and Matthew Cloutier and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHourand email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.
Web Resource
Related TED Bio: Franziska Trautmann
Related TED Playlist: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Related TED Video: Confused about recycling? It's not your fault
Related NPR Links
NPR Climate: Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf
All Things Considered: Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse
Short Wave: The Myth of Plastic Recycling
Copyright 2025 NPR
