Kansas City-based recycler Ripple Glass continues to operate while parent company Strategic Materials Inc. works to restructure $432 million of debt in bankruptcy court, the Kansas City Business Journal reported. Houston-based Strategic Materials (SMI) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 4 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. According to court filings, SMI received $23 million of debtor-in-possession financing from existing lenders that is being used to keep operations running at its subsidiaries, including Ripple Glass. Ripple Glass sold to SMI in September 2022 for an undisclosed amount, with plans to take the concept national. Ripple Glass was founded in 2009. Its processing plant at 1642 Crystal Ave. in Kansas City collects and grinds about 500,000 tons of glass a year into what's called cullet that is ready to be melted down and turned into new glass products. The recycled glass in Kansas City is used primarily to produce fiberglass insulation.
