AN INCREASED AMOUNT of wine has been enjoyed at home the past two years. That means more glass bottles have been brought out to the curb, with a landfill as the likely destination.

My house is five minutes from a collection center in downtown Richland. When I look into the bins designated for glass, it’s obvious some wine lovers are into recycling.

The same goes for Lake Chelan Rotary, which meets each Tuesday at Tsillan Cellars Winery, so Chelan attorney Julie McCoy and her fellow Rotarians on the Preserve Planet Earth Committee launched the 911 Glass Rescue project. Guy Evans of Tunnel Hill Winery is president-elect of Lake Chelan Rotary, and now half of the area’s 30 wineries are sponsors of the project.

They arranged to buy a $150,000 commercial glass-pulverizing system from Andela Products in New York. Amos Rome Vineyards, Fielding Hills Winery, Lagrioth Winery and Tsillan Cellars were among the largest donors to the machine, which generates glass sand and aggregate at the city of Chelan’s Recycling Center. These Rotarians believe it is the first program of its kind in Washington state.

“We have been operating since the beginning of July, and the response has been overwhelming,” McCoy says. “We have a steady stream of customers every Saturday and have crushed 30 tons of glass.”

They estimate that’s equal to about 15,000 wine bottles. Buckets of the repurposed glass are sold for $5 each and used for landscaping, artwork and sandboxes, as well as providing texture to countertops and traction on stairs.

“Some of the wineries bring us large quantities of glass,” McCoy says. And if anyone using the glass recycling bin at the Richland Uptown sees an empty bottle with a white Avery label on the neck that reads “Malbec-12” or “Riesling-19,” it was filled with award-winning wine.

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