Lake Macquarie City Council, New South Wales, is spearheading a push to substitute sand with recycled crushed glass in civil works projects in a bid to find a local solution to a growing national waste problem.
The Hunter-first project is on track to reuse thousands of tonnes of glass every year, with the potential to reuse all 12,000 tonnes collected across the region if other councils jump on board.
Mayor Kay Fraser, said glass bottles, jars and other items collected from household recycling bins would be sorted and processed as usual at a materials recovery facility at Gateshead.
But, rather than looking for glass recycling solutions interstate, Council is trialling the reuse of ‘glass sand’ manufactured at a custom-built plant on the Central Coast.
The glass sand has similar applications to normal sand and can be used as bedding material in drainage projects and other civil works in public and private development.
“There is a growing need across Australia to find an end use for recycled glass.
“With companies finding it cheaper to import new glass than buy recycled, we need to start coming up with innovative, cost-effective alternatives.
“This collaborative project could help solve a national crisis in our own backyard.”
Manager Planning and Sustainability, Alice Howe, said, “Our strategy is twofold: we are demonstrating the suitability of recycled glass sand for our own civil works program, and have amended our engineering guidelines to specify how this material can be used in development across the city.
“We aim to gradually increase the amount of recycled glass that is processed into glass sand and used in our own operations. If the rest of the region follows our lead, this initiative could close the loop on thousands of tonnes of glass each year.”
Other Hunter councils have already expressed interest in the initiative, along with other major local organisations.
