Tacoma is trying something new with discarded glass: turning it into local art.
The City of Tacoma and Hilltop Artists have launched a six-month pilot program called “This Is What We Make of It,” inviting residents to bring certain types of glass to the Tacoma Recycle Center so it can be processed and reused by local glass artists and students.
Accepted material includes clear bottles and float glass, such as unframed windows and glass shelving. The glass can be dropped off at the Tacoma Recycle Center, 3510 S. Mullen St., where it will be processed into cullet — small pieces of recycled glass that can be melted and formed into new work.
Hilltop Artists staff and students will then use that material in their glass education and production programs for youth. The idea is to test whether Tacoma can create a more local, closed-loop system for specialty glass, connecting recycling with youth education, environmental stewardship and the city’s creative economy.
And the glass won’t just disappear into a generic recycling stream. Pieces created through the pilot are expected to become AMOCAT Arts Awards, locally hidden glass treasures and other Hilltop Artists projects, giving some of Tacoma’s discarded glass a very visible second life.
The pilot began September 15 and will continue through the end of February 2027. If it proves workable, it could offer Tacoma a new way to keep specialty glass in circulation locally rather than treating it as waste.
For more information on the program, click here.
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