An Upstate business is giving a new life to your used glass. Bricolage Dynamics was founded by Upstate native Zeb Parsons in 2019. Since then, the company has moved from an operation in Parson’s home to a new facility in Pickens, giving the company more space and resources to recycle glass into sand.Bricolage Dynamics essentially functions as a subscription service for recycling glass– something that is often not accepted by other recycling services.The customer is given a recycling bin. They place their glass in the bin, and Bricolage Dynamics takes care of the rest. They pick up the glass and transport it to their facility, where it is transformed into sand. “We can produce, currently, about six different grades of sand, and that’s growing,” said Parsons. “Anything from a fine talc sandblasting-style sand to glass cullet, which is basically rock used to manufacture glass bottles and things like that.”According to Parsons, about 90 percent of the glass they collect is recycled. This means about 90 percent of everything they pick up is being reused or has a second life. “The national average is about 33 percent, and it has been that way for years and years and years,” said Parsons. “So, we feel pretty proud to be able to one, get clean glass from our dedicated customer base. But two, be able to use that and remanufacture that into a product that does have an impactful second life.” According to the United Nations Environment Programme, sand is the most mined material in the world. “The environmental impact is obviously quite large,” said Parsons. “When you look at the devastating impact of sand mining and things like that, and when we produce sand, it helps subsidize those markets.”But, Parsons says the sustainable practice not only has an environmental impact but an economic impact, as well. “There is only so much material to go around. It really seems like we’re going to have to start really focusing on using the materials we already have instead of using all these virgin materials,” said Parsons. “Because, what we’ve seen from COVID and all these other things, is that the price keeps going up and up and up. And I think, with some effective supply chain solutions, we can start getting the price of recycled materials down to where that can subsidize more of the market and bring prices down to where people are a little bit more comfortable with them.”Parsons says the company has grown about 400 percent over the past year and expects it to continue growing.