Sustainable Shotcrete with Crushed Waste Glass

Abstract

Abstract There is an ever-increasing amount of waste glass generated worldwide that is currently sent to landfill, and has a high potential for re-use. In Australia alone, the consumption of glass is 1.36 million tonnes, with the state of New South Wales producing the highest amount. Traditional landfilling and stockpiling of waste glass are not an environment-friendly solution, and the re-use of waste glass has become an important research topic in Australia and worldwide. This Project employs an experimental study to estimate waste glass re-cycling in shotcrete production. Mechanical strength and fracture properties of the new mix designs are compared against the controlled mixes at 0% waste glass inclusions. From the results, no impaired performance was recorded by substituting sand with crushed waste glass even at a high percentage ratio of up to 100%. While further research is needed, the promising early results highly encourage the applicability of crushed waste glass for sustainable shotcrete design, a topic that is yet relatively under-researched.