We’re Running Out of Sand (and It’s a Huge Problem)

Find America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston here: to.pbs.org/3uKw6b8
From skyscrapers, to paint, to cell phones, we depend on a seemingly unremarkable substance: sand. But behind sand's mundane existence lies a looming crisis. The modern world is built on sand, and we are running out.
Baratunde Thurston goes in search of this little-known crisis and discovers why it matters. Vanishing sand means disappearing coastlines and beaches, depletion of ocean floors and vital ecosystems. The stuff we lie on at the beach is becoming so precious, there’s even a black market for sand! Fortunately, a few passionate innovators are looking for solutions.
Travel to the disappearing coast of Louisiana to learn how conservationists are working to replenish sand, and the difficult choices they are forced to make. Meet an entrepreneur who’s recycling glass bottles to create more sand. And learn why solving the sand crisis matters to the future of the planet-and the outdoor environments we cherish.
*****
PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: to.pbs.org/DonateTerra
*****

[@ponyote]

Stealing an entire beach sounds like something out of Captain Planet. How utterly ridiculous that it happened.

[@awjaaa]

@@growinglifeorganic940 Word up. I didn't think CCP members watched such videos. lol

[@ashvio]

Barry hahah

[@chonglers1513]

Funny enough it was the plot of the game rocket power I used to have for the Gamecube lol

[@chonglers1513]

Truely ahead of its time

[@ponyote]

@@RepentandbelieveinJesusChrist5 hail Satan.

[@michealwestfall8544]

Glass bottles should be standardized so all you have to is clean the bottle and put a new label on it. If a company wants to have a cool different bottle, then they need to pay the cost for it to be recycled upfront.

[@TheJerbol]

On a larger scale the governments need to actually incentivize the use of recycled materials, making them more competitive compared to primary resources

[@monstrositylabs]

It would be really fun to live in a standardised sterile world.

[@TheJerbol]

is bottle shape really the variety that gets you through the day? hate to break it to you but 90% of your life is already standardized lol@@monstrositylabs

[@magesalmanac6424]

Buddy there is far more excitement in the world than having different shaped glass bottles.

[@monstrositylabs]

Where does it stop? You know , they tried this in communist China and Eastern Europe. Those commie blocks didn't fare well @@magesalmanac6424

[@jesipohl6717]

I hope the glass half full people are wearing masks, that's a lifelong disease waiting to happen. silicosis is no joke.

[@monstrositylabs]

Was thinking the same

[@jrey6186]

thats what she said

[@romelegend2334]

Yep I was thinking the same thing

[@sankimalu]

As a kid, glass soda bottles were worth a lot of money! We would collect them and trade them in for soda at a local kiosk. Breaking a soda bottle as a child came with the risk of bodily harm.

[@196cupcake]

2:40 "It's not rocket science, we're just moving dirt." I love that guy.

[@sarahjohnson6432]

I hope the workers in the glass recycling industry protect their lungs from that silica dust.

[@michaelproeber1953]

5:00 Respirators should be used in this facility, without question. They’re breathing glass dust without an N95 or better 😐

[@Oltoir]

I may have yelled at my computer how they should have respirators on at that point... Just asking for silicosis at that point

[@michaelproeber1953]

@@Oltoir The departure from masks and worker PPE “post-pandemic” has had a lot of consequences

[@maulwurf62]

@@michaelproeber1953It was amazing how people made masks into a political statement, even here in Europe.

[@TheFallinhalo]

@@maulwurf62 its because a certain part of the political spectrum LOVES to make up conspiracy theories, (due to a lack of proper education) but then sadly they treat that conspiracy theory as reality, and well we all saw the consequences of that during the pandemic. Exspecually thanks to a certain someone in the US. its a shame they didnt see all the death and suffering and then realise they were wrong, even they to think the deaths are a conspiracy.

[@13igtyme.]

Lightly mentioned the beaches in Florida and other areas, but didn't talk about the importance of not removing sand dunes or building on barrier islands.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Destroying the natural barriers and building them up again is much better for business.

[@Ace-1525]

@@eljanrimsa5843 Meanwhile the ecosystems already adapted to the barriers and dunes will suffer, and often the replacements are subpar for helping bring back what's already been destroyed.

[@patricknelson]

Just wanted to take a moment and say I appreciate the music in this video. Whoever edited it did a great job.

[@BrandonMyers-kf1wn]

Im from illinois and we have plenty of glass that needs recycled and I would love to try and get something going to help this out.

[@yuanruichen2564]

Illinois at least pretends to recycle things, in Indiana we just outright not even categorize trash into recyclable or nonrecyclable

[@jaedogg7836]

I'm from pa. Back when everything used glass containers, we would recycle them. You'd get some change back for taking your empties to the recycle. Glass is 100% infinitely recycalable. We switched to plastic because it was cheaper. Then they tried to convince us plastic was being recycled. We need to switch back to glass but the plastics industry is so massive that by getting rid of it, who knows what may happen. Its necessary though

[@holeshothunter5544]

that's just dumb. Beer deteriorates in clear glass.

[@notapplicable531]

@@holeshothunter5544 Beer deteriorates from exposure to sunlight/ultraviolet light. Glass bottle or plastic; it's going to deteriorate. Colourless, green, or brown; it's only a question of rate. Store your beer in a light-free place until you're ready to consume it. Cheers.

[@Caterfree10]

@@holeshothunter5544drink better alcohol my dude lol

[@Beryllahawk]

This is fascinating, but I find myself wanting to learn more about why rounded sand isn't useful. I mean, I do get it - angular sand, not rounded, will "lock together" at a very tiny scale, increasing the strength of whatever you put it into (like concrete), but if we're melting sand for glass, why can't desert sand work for that? Time to go do a little research, hey! The big point though is exactly as you said - gaining a better appreciation for everything we take from the Earth is one very good way to start changing how we do everything.

[@montithered4741]

Rounded sand doesn’t bind well in concrete. Glass sand (crushed glass) can be used in concrete because the pieces of crushed glass are rough and jagged.

[@awjaaa]

@@montithered4741 We need to teach the rounded sand how to hug. Poor rounded sand.

[@johnnyearp52]

​@@montithered4741 But can round sand be used for glass?

[@montithered4741]

@@johnnyearp52 Yes. My dad made stained glass panes using local sand from beach and sand dune

[@johnnyearp52]

@@montithered4741 Desert sand is the round sand. Did he use that?

[@Alexrocksdude_]

Great video highlighting an under reported problem. Glad people are taking some initiative to tackle the problem like glass half full.

[@Citizen-of-theworld]

In that last statement, you can either use less materials, or in start contrast to how the US operates, you can stop building low quality buildings which get demolished and replaced every 40 years, and instead build high quality solid and long lasting piece of architecture that will last for many hundreds of years like how we used to build buildings in Europe. It might use more materials now but over the long term it is far less wasteful

[@krawgs]

This would make Anakin happy.

[@Mrfoo2002]

Great documentary. Thank you for producing this

[@ArranitM]

Amazing episode. I was surprised at first about the glass sand being viable, and yet, it makes sense given it's mostly just sand to begin with.

[@Deontjie]

Maybe you are as smart as this professor. But no beach are static. They either grow or recede naturally. Messing with it will almost always makes things worse. If not at your location, somewhere close, that is related. Trying to fix nature with a few thousand tons of glass sand is merely a drop in the ocean. Not even enough to make a difference.

[@hmm5131]

This lady is the answer. Inspiring.

[@dylanho8608]

"I don't like sand. It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere."

[@SMCwasTaken]

- party pooper who hates fun

[@marisapatch431]

This video was well done but I wish you would have mentioned some more top-down solutions since this is clearly a systemic issue rather than an individual one. What type of policies should people be asking their representatives for or organizing around? I appreciated the bottom-up solutions mentioned such as small-scale glass recycling which is definitely one part of the larger solution...but not mentioning the systemic problems that lay the foundation for this level of resource exploitation to occur and the potential solution for that part of the problem is really disappointing. When you don't provide solutions for your viewers it leaves room for climate apathy, doomerism, and misinformed solutions. I hope you will improve upon this in your future videos since you have a very large audience and in turn a large responsibility.

[@_buns_]

Yes, I like they mentioned some solutions, but we have others that address the root cause that got 0 mention

[@infinitemonkey917]

That's because there aren't any as long as the population continues to rise, seal level rises, and capitalism is king.

[@marisapatch431]

@@infinitemonkey917 There absolutely are policy solutions, even under capitalism! In the USA, policies such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Superfund Program, Endangered Species Act, and so many others have led to incredible positive environmental change on a local and national scale. None of these acts would have been created if it weren't for grassroots environmental justice activists and local community members who organized and pressured their political representatives (ex. Lois Gibbs, Love Canal). The above policies are not perfect by any means and should absolutely be expanded, but they are clear examples of how to tackle a systemic environmental problem. I am clearly not pro-capitalism, but as someone who works in the conservation field I recognize that complex environmental problems often require complex solutions working both within and outside of the system.

[@infinitemonkey917]

@@marisapatch431 Those were great accomplishments but kinda feel like limited buffers rather than full mitigation. I was also thinking more in terms of erosion and sand loss. Perhaps I'm a pessimist.

[@montithered4741]

Shift from steel and concrete construction to wood and other plant-based materials. Many wood products can one for one replace concrete and metal construction. An added benefit is carbon sequestration.

[@fleachamberlain1905]

Fewer people will require "less of everything"

[@frisco61]

Are you volunteering?

[@ellasmommy9278]

Wow. I wish I were about thirty years younger so I could start up a business like glass half-full. I had no idea this was such a huge problem. Thank you for this episode and pointing this out to me. Thank you Glass-Half-Full for doing something about it. 🍷⏳

[@chrism3784]

A very sand poor area is Big Island Hawaii. Also no sand anywhere, even the beaches. Most are hard volcanic rock. The few sand beaches they have are course black sand and it only goes a few feet in the way, have to wear water shoes in the ocean

[@johnoutdoorvideos]

They URGENTLY need to start wearing respirators around that glass dust!

[@yyeezyy630]

If OSHA says it’s ok then it can’t hurt you

[@EatDirt1]

I’ve been able to almost completely eliminate buying food products in plastic containers. If it doesn’t come in a glass jar, can, or gabled carton, I don’t buy it. Like someone mentioned, those glass recyclers need respirators. Good report, thanks.

[@leodalkey651]

In the san francisco bay we have the exact opposite problem. Se we straightened out the river removing the bends as these would slow the progress of the water and therefore it would flood every wet season. But now all that sediment get dropped off near the bay. In the brackish waters. They have to go out there and dredge it every so often otherwise we would be building islands out there, which is of course unacceptable in the middle of important shipping channels. We use the sediment we dredge out there to cover landfills and raise ground in low lying areas then build housing developments on top of these. In fact most of Elk Grove was once a low lying wetlands area until we filled it with trash and then covered it with dredge effluence. Every once in a while a piece of old trash will float up in my yard. I remember one year I was digging around and found strange piece of plastic. Turned out to be Kermit the Frog's eye. LOLs

[@maulwurf62]

Others have said already, but: Wear feckin‘ masks if you don’t want to get sick and experience a slow and agonizing death.

[@GEOFERET]

Very interesting video. I would like to share a childhood memory: In the 50's and 60's, when there was a construction boom in my country Greece, entire mountains were eaten away to make sand for building, leaving ugly scars on the faces of the mountains. These have been restored by now, some of them beautifully, but as a child, it made me feel really sad. Luckily, though my country has loads of sandy beaches, that kind of sand was supposedly no good for building due to too much salt content; thus beaches were saved, because we had a lot of mountains as well. I suppose we must keep an eye out for beach thieves!

[@benzell4]

A hidden note here; it had been in the back of my mind and this video brought it front and center. The amount of sand being used worldwide in concrete, has sequestered that sand for something like millennia, at least. This would be the largest depletive human use of sand, which recycling glass for sand can never overcome. Still, I think it is worthwhile, as the young lady from glass half full explains… In global struggles, every little bit helps!

[@thathobbitlife]

I had already heard of Glass Half Full. I think Business Insider did a piece on the company when they discussed flooding and inland floods regarding climate change and hurricane season and that sort of thing. Im eager to know it can help, but its not the main solution. We need to stop the hyper consumption of well, everything. I hope we can do better.

[@zanderhenriksen6776]

I just hope they take Health and Safety laws seriously --not even the laws themselves, employers should go beyond that and take proper care of their workers. Saying this because in a shot there's a worker with no mask right next to the conveyor with fine glass shards in the air just waiting to cut up their insides and ruin their lungs and eyes.

[@pluspiping]

Also I'm kind of alarmed at all the comments being about recycling, when the biggest problem is "we are using up finite resources at an alarming rate and something has to change". This is true of a lot of things, actually.

[@Bay0Wulf]

Glass sand tends to be unusable for construction/concrete in that its too “smooth” or slick to hold together. I think they found this out when they tried to use “Glassphalt” in NYC … the aggregate (glass) just pressed its way out. Concrete itself is now being recycled for new aggregate in new concrete.

[@SMCwasTaken]

Sand is Sand Stop the BS

[@mikeg9b]

I understand the need for sand to make concrete and glass, but using sand to restore beaches seems like a waste of the sand. Sea levels are rising and hurricanes are getting stronger, so humans should be moving away from the coasts instead of trying to save them.

[@jordrider1917]

Agreed. It's like they're using these massive pieces of equipment to move sand from the bottom to the top of a pile. It's the definition of insanity.

[@chrism3784]

@@jordrider1917 using a ton of energy in the process, burning fossil fuels, adding to the problem

[@awjaaa]

Buncha sand-huggin' hippies.

[@realdreamerschangetheworld7470]

Not an option

[@samantha8578]

I think the misunderstanding here is that they're restoring beaches for human use. The way I understood it is that they're trying to restore environments used by wildlife. We're destroying their habitats, so we're trying to fix it. It's not the best solution, as they said in the video, it's just people doing what they can until a better idea comes along

[@montithered4741]

Government NEEDS to subsidize recycling.

[@deleterium]

Current system governments are strongly influenced by industry lobby.

[@zanerasmussen8889]

It’s always interesting to me that the solution to negative effects caused by humanity is more human intervention and attempts to be Mother Nature. It’s some degree of insanity tbh. Feels like a robbing Peter to pay Paul type of scenario.

[@ethanstump]

we really need to start naming the problem, which isn't "humanity". indigenous cultures know how to manage resource usage, it's infinite growth capitalism on a finite world that's the issue.

[@zanerasmussen8889]

Oh so people?

[@ethanstump]

@@zanerasmussen8889 are you dehumanizing the indigenous, or do you simply believe even the indigenous are capitalistic?

[@zanerasmussen8889]

don’t think indigenous participate in capitalize in the year 2023? People are the problem maaaan. You can’t blame simply the system if the system is created by and supported by a human. Humans are the problem and the fact you’re disputing this for some reason shows me that humanity will continue down it’s current path of self sabotage.

[@geegaw1535]

Mankind destroys everything he touches

Getting materials for construction is actually a problem for Constructors like me today.

[@amaionnaise1594]

amazing video!!! everyone is so talented!!!

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Glass bottles are the one thing that can be recycled without deterioration. Not doing it because we "can't afford it" is dumb. We can't afford to live on with our heads buried in the sand. We need to do the simple things, there are much more complicated challenges ahead than recycling glass bottles.

[@MissMeganBeckett]

The one thing that they didn’t mention is, are they doing research to see if ground glass sand suitable for use in concrete? If the finest glass sand is good for recycling into more glass and the coarsest glass sand is good for beaches and wetlands restoration then couldn’t the municipal recycling programs fund themselves by selling those parts of the glass recycling and using what is left over in their municipal construction projects such as new sidewalks?

[@jessvagnar4957]

50 pounds of sand is $7 at a big box store. The video said about half of the glass sand was usable. So you would need to collect 100 pounds of glass bottles, ship it to the site, clean and process it, find someone to buy it (contractors won't pay retail). Minimum wage is $7.25, then you'd have to factor in the land, building, equipment, etc. We all know recycling is a losing game, this is just helping you put context around recouping the cost being infeasible. Reducing is a better effort. You might defray a small fraction of the total program cost.

[@carlosmiranda5871]

@@jessvagnar4957ehhh wars are losing games and countries keep spending trillions on them

[@mortenlgaard8462]

I love he said he been at it for 6 years like it is alot people tried to warn about global warming in the 80s

[@matusknives]

Please apologize a dumb question - but isn't 're-sanding' beaching nothing more than a matter of comfort rather then necessity?

[@GenRN]

Sand protects the coastline.

[@matusknives]

@@GenRN I suppose so, but naively I would think that wave breaking barriers could be more effective and longer lasting. Again - ‘naively’ being the keyword here

[@ecurewitz]

The beach protects the land from erosion

[@matusknives]

@@ecurewitz is there maybe a more efficient way to protect the beaches that would not require so much send being dug out of the ocean floor?

[@jillcrowe2626]

California is washing away. A woman went to the beach on fine day and sat under the cliffs in Del Mar. She was crushed death when the cliffs collapsed above her. The lack of sand caused the ocean, during storms, to carve out a nice place to sit on the beach. Then it fell down.

[@kidmohair8151]

and the unremarked elephant in the room? the personal vehicle. which accounts for a large proportion of poured concrete. among the many other environmental problems that have been created to serve that addiction.

[@tbird81]

Yeah, but no one wants to do anything for themselves. I find it easier to just blame corporations and the government.

[@kidmohair8151]

@@tbird81 and you are right in so doing. most of our governments are subsidiaries of corporations. in particular those of the zombie fuels and merchants of death.

[@joweb1320]

Excellent!

[@Julesong]

The project to convert glass back into sand is FANTASTIC!! 💙🌎💙

[@leam89]

The host did an excellent job

[@GojiMet86]

Wonder if labels and stickers on the glass bottles have to be removed before the bottle is crushed.

[@guyman1570]

Some places uses a hot bath for that before grinding up the glass

[@MissMeganBeckett]

I think some places crush the bottles and put them through a sieve machine to separate the labels, but they also do something that washes the glass I think?

[@George_Washington185]

Sand in toothpaste 🤯🤯🤯Mind blown!!. Thank You so much for the detailed information!!. I appreciate the work of all you guys!!.

[@curties]

this story makes me remember the "recycling wars" (coined by a friend). 2 companies stole each others trash containers and/or contents because it was basically free money (the trash truck would drive through there anyway and trash was auto sorted up to 90% at the facility) and the "war" kept going for 2 years or so until thepolice and DAs got involved. in the end both sides paid fines etc. and not even a decade later they merged... funniest story I ever heard lmao

[@wirelesmike73]

This is all the more sad knowing that glass is one of the few infinitely recyclable materials in existence. Glass recycling should be a priority 1 industry. The issue is concrete. We use way, way WAY too much of it for everything when there are better solutions and materials.

[@yyeezyy630]

Like what? I’m genuinely curious what this material is that doesn’t cost more and Is just as structurally sound

[@wirelesmike73]

@@yyeezyy630 Depending on the project, structure, shape, uses, climate, geological location, etc., there are alternatives for all kinds of construction up to a certain scale. And I'm not even saying that we can't or shouldn't use any concrete at all, only that we should try to minimize the amount. But, as far as alternative materials, Wood can be used to construct multi-story buildings as high as 12 or 15 stories. Bamboo construction is astounding and can hold up for centuries. Brick requires concrete, but it requires way less per square foot. Stone is extremely structurally sound. Earth and adobe structures have stood for hundreds, even thousands of years. Steel and other alloys are alternatives. Sure, some of these may take more time to construct, and some of them may cost more; but, quick, easy, and cheap is what got us into the mess we're in on a multitude of fronts. Besides, not every structure has to be a bomb shelter with 18-inch thick cement walls. But, if you're actually that curious, just look it up. You'll get better information than from asking some random guy in the comments.

[@crazybeardjones]

I've watched this channel for 2 years at least, and there seems to be consistent dumbing down of their content. The info, even the cadence and tone of the presenters speech, more and more sounds like childrens program.

[@Julesong]

Can the fine, smooth desert sand be crushed or modified to make it useable like rough beach sand?

[@johnnyearp52]

My city stopped recycling glass because it has mountains of glass that no one will buy.

[@ericolens3]

Or let the mississipi run its proper course. there LOTS of sediment being dumped at lake pontatraine outlet to the gulf. yet the coastal erosion is at the region by Atchafalya outlet to the Gulf. sadly, this would mean to go Game Of Throne and "Flood them all" but there just needs to be river discharge over there. idk why and how, but theres a reason why rivers change course every so often per hundreds of years. The Baton Rouge to New Orleans route is only economic, and while im from the Great BR area, water needs to alternate is discharge pattern. nature isnt set in a rigid order, it fluctuates. 1) oxbow lake 2) changes to its dischage routes and other beautiful randoms of water. source: just a kid who observed the rain on the window in a car. its meandering patter alternated depending on the intensity of the rain. always an S shape but its sometimes swerved to the right and other times to the left. i get it, engineers design for their desired end result, but they also gotta work WITH natural nature balance. texas has their barrier islands, but We Louisianaians gotta spend state and federal tax dollar to build up sand bars and barrier islands and coastlines that could be passively built up each year with river discharge sediment. yeah, i get it. the counter point is Economic Baton Rouge, Port Allen, New Orleans, and so many other cities along the current route would have a lower river. idk, cuz theres LOTS of moving parts going on. for 2023 the Drought is causing problems already and if my propsed idea were implemented it has SEVERAL short term human disadvantages. but im not a politician nor engineer so i literally dont even have the power to flood the folks of Henderson, Grosse Tete, Morganza, Lafayette, Butte La Rose and so on. (its a bit of rutal cities but still not cool to willfully flood them out) again, its to build up the coastline. barrier islands would save FEMA money on checks. idk. its just somewhat intuitive to me, why make humans work increasingly harder to yeild decreasing less results at increasing prices for something that nature does PASSIVELY. my biggest problem with my proposed idea, is the ethical implications and the economic casualties. deflating the very aspect of why the River Cities were founded in the first place. (cuz tbh im proud of being from a city where the biggest river of the US flows through) and kinda nose down Lafayette cuz of the puny Vermillion River or the nearby Atchafalya. but if you took a bottle of water and poured it down the window of your car, you would see that water MEANDERS. as such the consequences of binding the River to a this path means the discharge is not building the coastline up. which makes Hurricanes that much worse. since their enegry isnt buffered by sand bar barrier islands.

[@mattwalter5184]

To do my part, I've given up eating sand.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Thank you

[@15halerobert]

I got my first driver’s license by collecting glass soda bottles. It’s a shame our drinks aren’t glass anymore instead of non recyclable plastic. The glass it seems to me keeps drinks colder and are recyclable.

[@contrafax]

Taste better too!!!

[@kenneybis1097]

They need to come dig where my kids play at, constantly getting tracked onto my floor 😤

[@SewolHoONCE]

Two comments, hopefully redundant! 1. ¿Do you remember the story about bulk carrier ships taking sand from Scotland to Saudi Arabia? The sand in Saudi Arabia is from a dried up ocean, and therefore contains salt. The cost/quantity of water needed to wash the salt down to a level useful in construction was greater than the cost of shipping salt-clean sand from Scotland. 2. ¿Do you remember the California gold rush? The layer of sediment laid down in San Francisco Bay 150 years ago contains so much mercury from the gold works that this sediment must not be disrupted. ¿Did I get this right?

[@ZipidEdooda]

Stripping Midwest farmland in La Salle County, Illinois and in Wisconsin for sand is not a solution, yet it's happening at an unprecedented rate.

[@AlKaseltzer87]

I hate sand. It's course, it's rough, it's irritating and it gets everywhere.

[@mascadadelpantion8018]

Who knew Sand was so important

[@danielabetts]

Excellent video

[@frederickrogers4064]

I feel like something died inside me today. A greening video showing that we used petroleum to turn sand into glass and as an answer to that were using petroleum to turn glass into sand? Am I alone here?

[@jgpaladus]

If someone could come up with a process that would turn desert sand into beach sand... Then someone would likely try to steal a desert.

[@yyeezyy630]

If someone from the Middle East would sell us their sand it would be a solved problem

[@jimurrata6785]

​@@yyeezyy630Desert sand is too fine, smooth and round to be useful in construction. Did we watch the same video???

[@jammiebooker6489]

Maybe they can mix it with the coarser glass sand

[@SMCwasTaken]

​@@jimurrata6785SAND IS SAND

[@jimurrata6785]

@@SMCwasTaken No. Not all sand is equal.

[@johnnyearp52]

I remember hearing years ago that Singapore had stolen a Malaysian beach. I was surprised. I couldn't figure out why.

[@Skybar23]

people need to remember the big infrastructure projects in the world today and in the future from sky scrappers, houses, roads we drive on all require cement/concrete-which requires of a lot of sand

[@Dqtube]

When I saw the processing facility 4:11 , the first thing that came to mind was an old saying: "Don't breathe glass dust." Why don't they have any respiratory protection? The building doesn't look like it has any air filtration.

[@Thegalexg]

I did hear abound sand shortage problem before, but it still surprises me. So that desert sand is not good for anything at all?, Not even for concrete production?! Also about the beaches restoration. If you shoot the sand from the ocean back to the beach, what happens to it that you need to bring it from inland after some time?, Certain points were not explained very well in my opinion.

[@KnightofRave]

0:23 "Sand is everywhere" *Anakin yelling...

[@janisjoman3846]

Anakin must be happy

[@caioalves8110]

Hey can we figure out how to turn the "useless" sand into usable sand? cuz there's a LOT of it y'know... everywhere

[@yyeezyy630]

It’s not useless. They literally make houses out of it. They just are dumb, Middle East people would mock them for sure

[@dweb2275]

Georgia has plenty of sand. We have sand dunes 30 miles inland from when sea levels were much higher.

[@ebybeehoney]

Free the rivers!

[@elonchieftwatt]

The way you phrasing the IMF 😂😂

[@awjaaa]

Hey, y'all know what beach zombies crave for dinner? grrRRRAAAIIIiiinnnns!

[@Buteojama]

For a great doc on this, check out "Sand Wars" It was really good, disheartening, but good.

[@vandalorian8777]

There is a sand pit in Dayton NJ along the Turnpike that ships sand to Saudi Arabia for use in water filtration

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Shows you how smart we are. I hope they use oil that's been shipped from Saudi Arabia to fuel their machines.

[@GordonSeal]

We need to stop using concrete in construction, and replace it with clean materials like wood, bamboo, hempcrete, etc., if we want to solve this problem.

[@oldbrokenhands]

Three things: 1. How energy intensive is sand dredging and recycling? 2. In my warped mind, I'm thinking about how many crack pipes and bongs are in recycled glass. 3. When someone tells me to "pound sand" I'll have to tell them we ran out.

[@josephpostma1787]

Can you use wind-blown sand for coastal restoration?

[@daviddutoit7437]

Can these people working with the glass recycling please get some safety breathing masks that fine dust floating about like that get into your body and causes severe health problems and damages the air sacks in your lungs. otherwise thanks for video

[@JBean_COCR]

Can concrete also be recycled? Fewer people would help as well.

[@muzzthegreat]

Does the USA not have recycling bins at people houses? Where I am the recycling price is built into the up-front purchase of the beverage-container.

[@b43xoit]

I live in the US and yes, "recycling" bins exist, but what's in question is what happens to the material. I am given to understand that not much of it is recycled. I'm so convinced that there is in fact no plastic recycling, even though the propaganda says you should put it in the recycling bin, that I now routinely send all plastic toward my county's incinerator.

[@harveysanchez6993]

Dubia be buying up a lot of sand as well

[@corujariousa]

The problem is known for decades. Some countries have even passed Federal Laws to stop removal of sand from most river banks. This created another crime type but that is another story. We need to recycle more and find/create new building materials and techniques.

[@silviavalentine3812]

Would also help if we stopped using so many resources for consumables. But I'm glad that some humans are doing something about the waste

[@3g0st]

We're Running Out Of Sand (and It's a Huge Problem) then at 7:46 "We're not going to run out of sand anytime soon. It's not like Mad Max out there." and at 5:53 the recycled glass regrowth efforts. Hope that saves someone 10min of clickbait!

[@yland6003]

People say that concrete cannot be recycled. Concrete is fairly inert and has a lifespan, but it still ends up in landfills.

[@realdreamerschangetheworld7470]

7:45 this scenario is hilarious

[@danielcrawlson1174]

Can you turn desert sand into glass?

[@faridjafari6356]

As said here the desert sand is not very good but can't we figure a way to use at least a part of our needs by using desert sand? This can also help to stop the desertification of some areas around the world.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Research is been done. It should be possible to create a better concrete by adding desert sand as a fine particulate and it could partially replace some of the binder. But our construction processes are so adjusted to the viscosity and availability of concrete. It will be difficult to find a commercially viable solution for any alternative with not exactly the same properties.

[@KSharpei]

Anyone else think: NoHo Hank and Cristobal 😢😂

[@p0tmuffin69]

poor cristobal they did him dirty

[@criticalhit009]

YES

[@timkirkpatrick9155]

Used crushed glass is recycled sand. Why is there no good reuse pathway?

[@mbuhtz]

I had hoped for an answer to how much damage to the ocean ecosystem is caused by dredging, but alas

[@awjaaa]

If you are going to inflate archaically, you should do so properly. "But" is a conjunction and "alas" is an interjection. They should be separated by a comma. There is really no scenario where they should go together, like this.

[@rokadamlje5365]

Thats such a flatlander problem. We got mountains...

[@awjaaa]

Hillbillies uber alles!

[@ReseRain-xq9uo]

Recycling sand and sell as a soil amendment at Home Depot Lowes Costco.

[@dustinyoung3069]

so... where does it go?

[@DR_SOLO]

I'm confused about how simple of the solution it sounds to take all the sand that we took out of the ground via machines to make bottles and glasses and cups and dishes and other glass things and figurines and decorative pieces. And take all that out of the trash and put it back in the dirt how you say it's not going to help or make that big of a different that's where all the same came from by putting it back I wouldn't think it would help substantially we're not doing it on a big enough scale. All Glass eventually gets broken very few of it hangs out except in Windows and glass tables but other than that all other glass usually gets broken and thrown away there's so many beer bottles at bars restaurants casinos people's houses. We need to do it on a bigger scale like Nationwide.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

There may be a nasty surprise down the line from the long-term exposure to glass dust in the environment. I guess it would be much better to recycle glass as glass.

[@DR_SOLO]

@@eljanrimsa5843 well crushed underwater would contribute to (0) ZERO DUST. i would believe

[@clintlbrown2597]

A no for me. I don't want beaches with glass for sand. That is crazy to imagine. Has to be dangerous.

[@rylandrc]

Okay, so where is all the sediment going that would naturally go to the mississippi river delta? It cant just be disappearing. Take it from whereever it is ending up and use it to rebuild the coast.

[@xandrewvondiue522]

Them beach thieves have some serious Gru-stealing-moon vibes 😂