Visitors to Yellowstone National Park drink their beer, recycle the bottles and now can sit on benches made of 1,000 beer bottles and now in place at Canyon Village.

GeoMATRIX, a Bozeman manufacturing business, crafted a dozen picnic tables and six benches that consist of 99.5 percent locally recycled materials. Today, the picnic tables will be unveiled at Canyon Village for Yellowstone’s 3 million annual visitors to enjoy. GeoMATRIX installed six benches at Canyon Village in July. 

The co-owners, Alexa Calio and Jon Cross, use locally collected ingredients for durable benches and tables that must withstand temperature and weather extremes in the world’s first national park.

“Canyon Village is undergoing a substantial redo thanks to Xanterra Parks & Resorts,” says Cross, “and ‘Green’ is a very important component to the project. Our picnic tables and benches are a fitting addition especially since all the recycled glass came from Yellowstone National Park.”

 

The other main ingredient, fly ash, is ash left over from a coal-fired power plant in Billings, and then recycled with the crushed and polished glass. Together with water, the aggregate, called Minerva, is poured into forms for sustainable, locally crafted and durable outdoor furniture.

"Our goal at GeoMATRIX is to lead by example by providing innovative technologies which utilize the abundant waste stream generated in cities across the world, which in turn promotes recycling healthy and sustainable communities," says Ms. Calio.

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