From waste glass to building materials - An innovative sustainable solution for waste glass

This report details a cost-effective new process for transforming mixed waste glass into high-value building materials without remelting. Worldwide, waste glass is a growing burden and new options are urgently needed for the large volumes of speciality, mixed, broken and contaminated glass that cannot currently be recycled. Conventional glass recycling technologies are limited by the need to separate waste glass into different glass types and the extreme sensitivity of the remelting process to any contamination. In this study, we demonstrated that mixed broken glass could be used as primary input in the production of polymeric glass composites. The composites' mechanical properties, utility, aesthetic appeal and expected market value were comparable to natural and engineered stone products, widely used as kitchen and bathroom benchtops and floor and wall tiles. Waste glass powder with an average particle size smaller than 108 gm was ground then mixed with resin as a binder before the mixture was hot-pressed under pressure. Various ratios of waste glass to resin binder, as well as the effect of a coupling agent and reinforcing mesh were tested. The optimum PGC achieved a flexural strength of 48 MPa, water absorption below 0.002%, a density of 2.113 kg/m(3) and compressive strength of 101 MPa with minimum scratch, wear and UV degradation behaviour. Its excellence in the mechanical value stand in parallel with engineering stone but, with cheaper and efficient process. Additionally, this new recycling process embodies an important unique alternative to the remelting of waste glass with the potential to deliver economic and environmental benefits wherever waste glass is stockpiled. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.