Value-added utilisation of waste glass in concrete

A large proportion of the postconsumer glass is recycled into the packaging stream again, and some smaller proportions are used for a variety of purposes, including concrete aggregate. However, a significant proportion, which does not meet the strict criteria for packaging glass, is sent to landfill, taking the space that could be allocated to more urgent uses. Glass is unstable in the alkaline environment of concrete and could cause deleterious alkali-silica reaction (ASR) problems. This property has been used to advantage by grinding it into a fine glass powder (GLP) for incorporation into concrete as a pozzolanic material. In laboratory experiments, it can suppress the alkali reactivity of coarser glass particles as well as that of natural reactive aggregates. It undergoes beneficial pozzolanic reactions in the concrete and could replace up to 30% of cement in some concrete mixes with satisfactory strength development. The drying shrinkage of the concrete containing GLP was acceptable. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.