Glass dust

Terre de verre

Although glass has a high recyclability rate, glass recycling produces residual waste called glass fines, which can reach up to 100,000 tonnes per year according to ADEME. These fines are particles smaller than 0.8 mm, difficult to sort and containing undesirable organic elements. Their composition does not meet industry standards, and they are intended for landfill. However, these particles can be transformed into a resistant and ecological material, useful for creating furniture and coverings with low environmental impact and for everyone.
Glass, recovered directly in powder form, enables the creation of various objects that would otherwise be difficult to produce. This material use primarily relies on glass and ceramics techniques, particularly fusing and glazing. This approach allows for moulded, flat, solid, or hollow objects in diverse shapes. By experimenting with different particle sizes, it’s also possible to create patterns, producing objects entirely from recycled glass.
To explore the material's possibilities, I chose to create a range of architectural coverings with multiple patterns, as well as more complex items like a mirror and a light fixture. The aesthetic is intended to be minimalist to highlight the material's richness, with an appearance resembling marble or stone.
This distinction between the two types of objects allows for exploring both the “industrial” potential of this material in replicating the same piece and the uniqueness offered by more complex objects.

Making process

Unlike existing projects addressing glass recycling, no resin, binder, or any other material is added here, nor is any additional grinding step required. The recovered raw material, considered non-recyclable waste, is used as is. Only sieving is necessary to separate its components (glass particle size, organic waste, and others).
Fired at a low temperature (~800°C) for ecological and economic reasons, this approach yields a lightweight and durable material that requires less energy than conventional glass processing and recycling, which requires higher temperatures (~1200°C).
Additionally, for ecological and economic purposes, custom reusable moulds are made to shape the glass fines, reducing waste generated by the project (as opposed to single-use plaster moulds). This allows us to manufacture objects made from 100% recycled and recyclable glass.
Part of the current glass recycling cycle, this project is intended to be an additional step allowing the revaluation of the recovered material that cannot be recycled.
Thus, by creating a new value chain and a full-fledged production while integrating glass recycling players at the start and end of the revaluation process, it is possible to offer recycled and recyclable objects. Indeed, once they have reached the end of their life, objects made from fine glass can take two directions. The first consists of reintegrating the classic cycle of glass recycling. The second, inherent to this project, uses this “waste” as a filler in the manufacture of new objects.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.