| GRN Recycle Talk FAQ Answer |
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 12:03:32 -0400 (EDT) From: FRIEDMAN.FRED@EPA.GOV (Fred Friedman) Subject: Re: Sand blasting aggregate as a post consumer use for glass (Padraig Holahan)
April 12, 2000
Dear Padraig Holahan,
Glass cullet, from whatever postconsumer source including packaging has been used for sandblasting medium.
Owens Corning, one of the largest manufacturers of glass, has also developed numerous uses for recycled cullet.
The Clean Washington Center, now CWC (www.cwc.org) used to have a database of all of the uses for cullet as of 1992. I do not know if that is still maintained, however, since it was as of 1998, and did include blasting abrasive, I expect they still have it, since their website has CWC Technology Brief: Using Glass as a Blasting Abrasive, in which is mentioned the TriVitro Corp. of Seattle, WA as one of their testers of the concept.
See also: Reuse/Recycling of Glass Cullet for Non-Container Uses by Dane County Dept. of Public Works, Madison, WI, 5/20/96 which mentions Dunkirk International Glass Ceramics, Dunkirk, NY and Universal Ground Cullet, Inc., Cleveland, OH as producers of abrasive.
Regarding your other question, why this, not that plastic has a market, PVC is a questionable choice for packaging foods, and HDPE is a tried and true choice.
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