VILLAGEx 2023 Founder Friday: Glass Half Full

Founder Fridays is a series that spotlights VILLAGEx founders and their startups

Franziska Trautmann, alongside her co-founder Max Steitz, are the driving forces behind Glass Half Full, an innovative Louisiana-based recycling company that transforms discarded glass into sand and gravel for a variety of uses, including coastal restoration, disaster relief, and new glass products. Since their early beginnings in 2020, their work has been recognized and celebrated by numerous media outlets, including CBS News, Bloomberg, and PBS News, helping to spread awareness about their vital mission.

The idea for Glass Half Full was born out of a simple realization that struck Franziska and her co-founder during a casual night of drinking wine. 

“Glass Half Full started, like most good ideas, over a bottle of wine. After my co-founder and I finished our $2 buck chuck, we realized that like every other glass bottle in the state of Louisiana, it would end up in a landfill.” shares Franziska. 

That's when Franziska, who was studying chemical engineering at Tulane University, had an epiphany - glass comes from sand.

Thus, Glass Half Full was born, with a mission to recycle glass bottles back into sand, creating a sustainable solution for a global sand shortage, particularly relevant in Louisiana, where coastal erosion is causing a football field's worth of land to disappear every 100 minutes.

“Now sand is something the everyday person doesn’t think much of, but we are actually in a global sand shortage. We are running out of sand needed for construction, concrete, and coastal restoration.” shared Franziska 

Despite starting as a small startup, Glass Half Full has quickly scaled its operations and gained support from the community, raising over $100,000  through a successful GoFundMe campaign in 2020. Just last month, they won the highly competitive IDEApitch, solidifying their position as a regional startup on the rise. With plans to bring the first-ever glass recycling manufacturing plant to Louisiana, Glass Half Full is not only creating jobs and stimulating the local economy, but also making a significant impact on mitigating the devastating effects of climate change along the South's coastline.

With a commitment to sustainability and environmental preservation at the core of their mission, Glass Half Full is proving that small ideas can have big impacts.

Q & A 

(Responses have been edited for clarity)

What’s your best piece of startup advice for an entrepreneur in your industry?

Franziska: “Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Tell people what you’re struggling with because you never know who has gone through it or has advice for you. Advice can come from unique people and places!”

Why startup in New Orleans? 

Franziska: “For me, it’s because Louisiana is my home and we are on the forefront of climate change. If we can work to protect our coastline here then hundreds of other coastal cities can learn from us and adapt to be more resilient.”