Crushed glass instead of sand

Sand

This is the best use for unwanted glass I’ve seen. I wanted to do something similar to save money as well as recycle. The reason? We’re running out of coarse sand. It’s a worldwide problem and everywhere has a glass disposal problem. It’s an elegant solution. Even the powdered glass can be used as an additive for things like paint coatings. I’m a big fan of lime wash coating and glass powder will make it stronger and more wear resistant.

Thank you Christopher, for embedding that video. It was definitely worth watching.

Some take-aways:
1. Permaculture focuses on the circular economy, and the video showed a small crusher in a trailer, that could be taken right to the source of the bottles. They also had it set up to run off solar panels.

2. I had read before that glass concrete could be a problem due to sharp bits, but this system clearly  works in a way that the people could drag their hands through the bin of crushed glass without getting cut.

3. They clearly admitted that they're still researching in order to figure out percentages and "gotchas" that could interfere with the concrete being strong and safe. This does *not* replace all the sand - it just replaces percentages bases on the planned use of the concrete.

I wonder if it could be used in "Roman" concrete which is mixed in a different way - it is hot mixed and must be done on-site, but it seems to last far longer than modern concrete.

I also wonder if the operators ought not to have been wearing face masks. Possibly the machine is catching all the dust, but my sister does Stained Glass and uses a water grinder on the edges, but she still wears a mask when using it. Lungs don't like glass powder.

I am seeing crushed glass used as landscape mulch.  It is very pretty and I want some ...

One trick I love is to use a rock tumbler to make your own beach glass. If you don’t want to buy powders you can use things like salt and toothpaste to make it smooth and eventually shiny. If you can find colored bottles it’s one of the coolest looks. If you top dress and the glass gravel or sand gets buried just shift it out each year. Just use things like dollar store colanders and sifters. Also putting it in a bucket of water the glass is the heaviest so it sinks to the bottom of the bucket and the soil ends up on top. I had plans to make a massive tumbler system so I could make rock dust and tons of beach glass. I planned to set up rollers then take a wrecked car and set it up on a pivot so the tire would turn the rollers then just drop 55 gallon barrels on top of the rollers and let them spin for a few days. It seemed like a cheap way to produce tons of rock dust and things like beach glass by the ton. A large set up could tumble five or ten 55 gallon drums at a time. Spreading glass gravel on top of the soil after you get the plants established is a great way to deal with weeds. It reduces the amount and the ones that fight to the top are easy to pull out then just recycle it every year. If you’re patient and have a large rock tumbler, most can come with two jars, just spend the winter making glass gravel. Use an old towel and a hammer to break it up then sight it into the tumbler jar. Use screens to separate the sizes after you get them smooth enough to handle.