Did you know that in 2018, the EPA reported that approximately 7.6 million tons of glass were landfilled [1]! Sadly, this annual number hasn’t changed appreciably in over 20 years. At R-E-D Industrial Products, we see an opportunity to turn this problem into a solution. R-E-D Industrial Products’ Re-Act 4 TM, powered by Opta Minerals, is a ground glass pozzolan (GGP) that is directly produced from this waste stream of glass. Ground glass pozzolans can replace ordinary portland cement in concrete upwards of 50% (similar to GGBFS/slag) and provide performance improvements, such as increased strength and improved durability.
The EPA also reports that between 0.787 and 0.934 tons of C02 can be saved for every 1 ton of clinker/cement removed from concrete [2]. So, if all this landfilled glass was to be turned into Re-Act 4 TM and then substituted for cement in concrete, we could reduce our GHG emissions by up to 7.1 million tons of C02 annually. That’s a lot of C02!!
References
[1] EPA (2022) “Facts and Figures about Materials, Waste and Recycling, Glass: Material-Specific Data”. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/glass-material-specific-data#:~:text=The%20total%20amount%20of%20combusted,all%20MSW%20landfilled%20that%20year. Retrieved on 8/23.
[2] EPA (2021) “U.S. Cement Industry Carbon Intensities (2019), EPA 430-F-21-004”. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-10/cement-carbon-intensities-fact-sheet.pdf . Retrieved on 8/23.