Reactive glass powder concrete (RGPC) - "green" flags for "green" pavements

Authors: M.N. Soutsos, T.T. Le, S.G. Millard
Paper category: conference
Book title: Concrete Durability and Service Life Planning – ConcreteLife’09
Editor(s): K. Kovler
Print ISBN: 978-2-35158-074-5
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-085-1
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Publication year: 2009
Pages: 327 – 335
Total Pages: 9
Language: English

Abstract: A significant surplus of green glass has arisen in the UK, since the mid 1990s, due to an imbalance between production and imports. The surplus derives from an imbalance in the relatively large quantity of green glass recovered and the smaller quantities of green glass containers produced by the UK glass industry. Whilst the levels of cullet recovery in the UK are much lower than levels of recovery in other European Countries, they are set to rise considerably as action is taken to meet EU directive targets on reducing packaging waste. If alternative uses are not identified then such increases will lead to the generation of a “green glass mountain”. This will compromise both the economic viability and the sustainability of cullet recovery in the UK. The replacement of quartz sand with glass cullet in the production of Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concretes (UHPFRCs) has been investigated specifically for use in an improved concrete pavement flag. The replacement of quartz/silica sand in UHPFRC by ground glass cullet will offer local councils a high value end use for green glass and a high profile application, i.e. “green” flags for “green” pavements. In addition, under service, the improved pavement flag has been shown to have a greatly improved resistance to cracking from an unexpected flexural loading (e.g. vehicle loading on pedestrian pavements). This will reduce liability claims arising from uneven pavements currently costing the Manchester City Council and Preston City Council around £6 million a year each.

Online publication: 2012-05-16
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00