WEST FARGO, N.D. — In the midst of a West Fargo, N.D., bar’s remodeling last year, Ron LaCoe offered the business a unique opportunity to “go green.”

LaCoe, who owns A-1 Sealcoating & Asphalt Maintenance, asked the staff at Border Town Bar and Grill for customers’ empty bottles so he could use them as a main component to sealcoat the bar’s new parking lot.

“To my knowledge, they’re the only bar that recycled their beer bottles in their parking lots,” LaCoe said. “So, what the patrons used to drink, they now walk on.”

His interest in using recycled glass was sparked when he learned about the dangers of breathing in dust from silica sand, a main ingredient in most asphalt sealcoats.

“Glass may cost a little more than silica sand, but it’s one of those things where you can lower your liability in the workplace by using glass versus something that causes cancer,” LaCoe said.

After two years of research, trial and error with hundreds of pounds of crushed glass from a West Fargo glass plant, LaCoe continued to discover the advantages of replacing silica sand with crushed glass.

“We did All-Stop’s parking lot. It took seven hours to get back on the lot, with semi traffic, when normally it takes 24 hours,” LaCoe said. “Silica sand holds moisture where glass doesn’t.”

Glass also creates a smoother surface over the asphalt on roadways, which means less ice and snow will cling to it.

LaCoe said A-1 is the only asphalt maintenance company in the country to use crushed glass instead of silica sand. It accepts pavement jobs as far away as California and Tennessee.

As news of his patented, environmentally friendly product spreads, LaCoe expects to take on bigger projects.

“I have one air base going to try it in the spring, and if they like it, that’s just going to magnify it,” he said. “It’s just been unreal.”

LaCoe said research and asking a lot of questions made his idea feasible.

“Nothing’s impossible when it comes to things in the environment created by man. If you’ve got ideas, don’t be afraid to try them.”