Foundry Sand Makes Sledding Hill

Winter Thrills Begin with Foundry Sand

At Waupaca Foundry, we believe it’s imperative to continue finding smarter ways to use our natural resources—recycling, repurposing, and reusing materials everywhere we can. We create new products out of recycled steel scrap and iron, and we reuse many raw materials in manufacturing our castings. Now, in the City of Waupaca, we’re helping adventurous kids and thrill-seekers of all ages enjoy the benefits of our reused foundry sand—in the form of a 42-foot-high sledding hill! 

With the generally flat topography of Waupaca, Wisconsin, it’s not easy to find a good place for sledding in the winter. But that won’t be the case for long. Thanks to the involvement of Waupaca Foundry, several construction partners, and the City of Waupaca, residents will soon have access to the Swan Park Recreation Facility. This project will give families the opportunity to enjoy a new, 42-foot-high sledding hill and ice-skating rink in the winter, added hiking trails, basketball courts, and an amphitheatre in the summer. 

The initiative kicked off in February 2012, when Waupaca Foundry’s three Waupaca-area foundries agreed to donate approximately 200,000 cubic yards of foundry by-products to facilitate the facility’s construction. Our foundry sand and slag will be used as an unconfined geotechnical fill, in lieu of natively mined construction materials. Not only does the fill come at no cost to the city, it also provides a reduction in landfill and mining dependence. 

Waupaca community members can expect the basketball courts to be completed first, with the entire project slated to wrap up in May 2014. Parking areas and recreational lighting are also part of the Swan Park plan.