Wine bottles and other recycled glass will replace sand for the construction of tunnel supports. This will reduce construction costs and waste.
Australian engineers at the University of Queensland are working on the second phase of a project to use crushed glass waste to replace sand in shotcrete.
Shotcrete is an ordinary construction concrete, which differs in that it is applied to the surface by shotcrete. The material is used in the mining industry, as well as in the repair of concrete buildings and load-bearing structures. It is widely used both in aboveground and underground construction.
The problem is that the amount of sand in the world is limited, so ingenuity is needed to address the impending shortage. In addition, over the past 20 years, the cost of sand has increased sixfold.
In turn, crushed glass waste consists of recycled glass from wine bottles and other products that usually end up in landfills.
A study carried out by scientists has shown that crushed glass is much more profitable to use. In addition to being cheaper as a byproduct of one area, it requires less water to use. The fact is that glass, unlike sand, has zero water absorption.
