The Southland District Council, which administers Stewart Island, operates a weekly kerbside recycling collection for the island's 400 residents and business owners.
There is a cleanfill site on the island, but most recycling and all household rubbish was transported the 40km back to Invercargill by freight boat, the council's Stewart Island engineer, Irwin Harvey, said yesterday. So when the council found an affordable glass-crusher for sale just over two years ago, it jumped at the chance to buy it, he said.
''We didn't know exactly what we were going to do with the crushed glass, but we thought crushing it was a better idea than what we had been doing - smashing the bottles and putting them in the cleanfill site.
''We can use the crushed glass as a bedding material, which saves us having to import it, and it saves us having to dispose of what is a waste product.''
The owners of the South Seas Hotel bought another $4000 crushing machine at the same time, and the two machines had been in use steadily ever since, Mr Harvey said.
Now the glass, which is crushed to a fine sand-like consistency, is being put to good use as a base material on the island's new $90,000 bowling green, expected to be completed early next year.
A layer of sand and artificial turf will be laid over the base material to create the playing surface.
Mr Harvey said the bowling club had taken all the glass stockpiled since the machines were bought.
The council had no plans yet for the glass crushed from now on, he said.
''We're open to ideas. If community groups or anyone else wants it, we will discuss that with them.''
The council was commissioning a larger glass-crushing machine - a limestone crusher bought for $1500 and powered by an engine from a car discarded on the island.
He hoped the new machine would be up and running before Christmas.
