Flathead Recon Deconstruction & Materials Salvage

11/15/2025

Just letting folks know that my attention has turned to one particular building on the Eastside, in Fort Benton...one of the old hotels in town. It was abandoned for 25 years before I began cleaning it up and repairing old broken bones. I now go forward with stamped engineered plans, heavy timber fortifications, and a recently retired mason who seems to like the town. It is "The Chouteau House" (also spelled Choteau House, it's funny and confusing history). The not-so-funny history is that this building served as the brothel for most of its illustrious life. No, I am not taking the building down...I am trying to bring it back alive. It is currently on life-support.
The original two-story was built in 1868, and the additional two-story was added in 1900 with the third story added in 1910. For those that may not know, Fort Benton was the last stop of the steamships from St. Louis. It was a major hub of transit with all paths west going through there.
I can't say exactly what the building will become again someday, I stick to my story that I am just the guy fixing the building... someone else will likely end up doing something with it. Hopefully some old-school locals will take a shine to the repairs and appreciate the value of the site to the town going forward. It is literally the last of the unoccupied buildings in town. It is the only "blight" left. Fort Benton is a blooming flower in the dirty, dusty, windy wonder of the Missouri River corridor.

08/05/2023

https://flatheadbeacon.com/2023/07/23/local-glass-recycling-on-hiatus/ I appreciated this recent local press...it is unfortunate that none of the gravel pit operators have responded to this opportunity to keep glass out of our landfill. When one of them does take advantage of this unique aggregate material, it will benefit their bottom line, relieve pressure on our landfill, and make a great landscape material available for decorative landscapes. Let me know your thoughts. Cheers, Dave

Flathead Recon Glass Recycling is looking for a new property to continue processing region’s glass and help fund local nonprofits

07/24/2022

Today put us past 10,000 pounds of glass that has been successfully diverted from our local landfill in the past three fundraising events for non-profits and raised over $6,000. Thank you to all those that contributed. There are two more opportunities to recycle glass here in the Flathead, August 20th for Habitat For Humanity and September 17th for Land to Hand. Habitat creates affordable housing and Land to Hand gets fresh food into our local food banks. Yes...people bring their glass for local processing and make a contribution to local non-profits in exchange for the service. You will find a map and directions to the recycle yard in Columbia Falls at the website, follow them carefully as your GPS will not get you there. While it is two minutes from downtown, it is completely off-grid with no address. The road coming in is rough so go slow. If you are wondering what all the huge steel components are from in the yard above mine, that is my landlord, Columbia Construction and Property Services... he deconstructs mills and manufacturing facilities and repurposes or recycles the materials.

07/03/2022

Local Glass Recycling. July 9th. Support local youth, fundraiser for Powdered Soul. Follow directions and instructions on the Recon website.

05/28/2022

Okay Folks, there shall be GLASS RECYCLING in the Flathead this summer. No drop-off, but we have a great line-up of fundraisers for some outstanding non-profit organizations. The following dates are Saturdays, 10am to 2pm. The suggested donation for dropping off your glass is a dollar a pound. Whatever you are able to donate will be acceptable, but please keep in mind...these are fundraisers for awesome groups doing important work in the Valley.
June 25 - Citizens For A Better Flathead - https://www.flatheadcitizens.org/
July 9 - Powdered Soul - https://powderedsoul.org/
July 23 - The Gypsy Theater Guild
August 6 - Girls On The Run - https://www.gotrflathead.org/
August 20 - Habitat For Humanity - https://habitatflathead.org
September 17 - Land To Hand - https://landtohandmt.org
Please understand clearly, you are not donating your glass. You are donating money in exchange for dropping off your glass. If you don't like that idea, don't come. If you like the idea of keeping glass recycling alive in Montana (this is the only functional glass pulverizer in the state) please reduce your plastic purchasing and enjoy recycling your glass in a local processing facility. You are also able to purchase pulverized glass for your decorative landscape ideas. Five-gallon buckets are available for $25 for mixed colors and $35 for clear, green, or brown.

10/18/2021

After numerous fundraisers diverting tens of thousands of pounds of glass from the landfill and raising money for local causes, we are officially shutdown and closed for the season. Glass recycling will likely resume in May. Thank you for your patronage.

09/22/2021

Reduce - landfill pressure.

09/04/2021

If you would like to recycle your glass and support kid's participation in winter activities, join us for the fundraiser on September 11th from 10am to 2pm at the yard. Bring your glass recycling and donate $.50 to $1 per pound for helping kids pay for their winter sports. Powdered Soul creates volunteer opportunities for kids to earn money towards the fees for their winter activities. If you are unable to attend but would like to contribute to the organization, please do so at their website...it really makes a difference.

We are more than a scholarship program. Yes, we award scholarships to our participants. These scholarships are not our program goal. Yes, we LOVE helping local youth follow their passions, and fund these goals. What we love more is watching our participants serve our community through community serv

09/04/2021

If you would like to recycle your glass and support kid's participation in winter activities, join us for the fundraiser on September 11th from 10am to 2pm at the yard. Bring your glass recycling and donate $.50 to $1 per pound for helping kids pay for their winter sports. Powdered Soul creates volunteer opportunities for kids to earn money towards the fees for their winter activities. If you are unable to attend but would like to contribute to the organization, please do so at their website...it really makes a difference.

07/31/2021

We had a great first glass recycling fundraiser for this season. Farm Hands was able to raise over $2,000 and we processed over 5,000 pounds of glass. There are a handful of events before winter falls down on us and shuts down the glass recycling for the season. The schedule of events can be found at

Glass collection is open for the summer. The cost will be $.25/lb. to drop-off color separated clean  glass. The yard is open during daylight hours. NO GLASS DROP-OFF AFTER 10/1/2021

07/07/2021

This Saturday kicks off the non-profit fundraisers for the season. Farm Hands helps fresh, locally grown farm food get to our local food banks. You can support this great local organization by bringing your glass recycling down to the yard between 10am and 1pm. Your donation will help these folks keep doing the work they do feeding the hungry.

From Nucleus Avenue go north as it joins the North Fork Road. Take your first left across the railroad tracks. There will be signs for the business in the industrial park.

07/03/2021

Glass drop-off is open for business again. The mechanical problem was, once again not with the pulverizer but with the generator that is powering it...sometimes machines from the 1970's need their original radiator hoses replaced before it is challengingly hot. So with a set of new hoses and fresh coolant we are pulverizing glass. The cost is $.25/lb to drop your color separated clean glass with the metal or plastic rings removed. It is self-service, any daylight hours are permitted. Payment can be remitted at Venmo: . What does that mean to "pulverize glass" ...you ask? It means that with 28 metal hammers on a spinning shaft inside the machine, all the edges are knocked off the glass. It becomes what the aggregate industry refers to as "3/8ths minus" which means it consists of pieces of rounded off glass from about 3/8ths of an inch and smaller. People use this material to decorate their yards. It is good for bedding plants with instead of bark or mulch because it is a permanent solution, not one that needs annual replacement. Additionally, and urgently...it is a fire-wise material to surround your house with underneath the eaves where you might have drain rock. Because of the smaller particles, it tends to retain moisture very well. A five-gallon bucket of blue goes for $45, it is very rare and inventory is extremely limited. A five-gallon bucket of clear is $35, and a fiver of mixed colors goes for $25. Buy a six-pack and you get one free. The material looks great as a skim coat on your gravel road as well. The reason all this is important is because sand is a limited resource that is extracted from the earth. Glass takes a lot of energy to make. We really really super much should keep this valuable resource out of the landfill. It just takes effort. Thank you for yours, I will continue to bring you mine. The next most important thing in this whole ordeal is to advance LOCAL recycling technologies and facilities. https://flatheadrecon.com/our-location