Crushed Glass Applications for Landscaping, Terrazzo and More

Crushed glass chips add versatility and attractive options across different application types including terrazzo flooring, lawns and gardens, and glassphalt projects.

Glass is 100% recyclable and comes from post-industrial and post-consumer recycled sources. Buildings often discard glass products, which if contaminated may end up in landfills. Manufacturers today contact waste collectors to find ways to recycle the glass and repurpose it for new products. When you think about it, glass is nearly everywhere from eyewear, windows, and packaging items.

Recycled glass is often preferred over virgin glass sources as it benefits the environment by reducing the amount of waste stored in our nation’s landfills. It can be used again and again without loss in quality or clarity. Let’s take a look at some applications of crushed glass.

Glassphalt

Crushed glass can be recycled as glassphalt, which is an alternative to surface pavements such as roads and highways. The building material was introduced in the 1970s as a way to recycle a considerable amount of clear and colored glass bottles that were disposed of in landfills annually.

There were benefits to using glassphalt for roads and highways as the glass contents had greater impacts on durability, and glass processing was inexpensive compared to processing gravel and sand. As a result, the supply of crushed glass led to road systems that were less prone to cracking and less slippery as they were.

Greenscaping

Greenscaping refers to the use of landscaping techniques to improve the overall health of lawns and gardens. Glass chips come in a variety of colors – red, blue, green, yellow, etc – which can help design a beautiful and eco-friendly outdoor space.

Aside from the different types of color glass chips to decide on, glass chips have benefits in watering the space. Glass chips do not absorb moisture, which helps transport water directly to the soil. This helps reduces the number of times a person has to water their lawn or garden yearly.

For landscaping inspiration, we found great articles you need to check out:

“100 Landscaping Ideas for Front Yards and Backyards” from PlantedWell.com

20 Brilliant Desert Landscaping Ideas from Happy DIY Home

Fireplace Glass

Another application for crushed glass is for outdoor fireplaces. Glass chips retain much of the heat produced from flames, and also have positive health effects. Since burning wood can emit smoke into the air whereas fire glass does not produce sparks or ashes, fire glass is both clean and safe to use not only for own our health but also for the health of our environment.

Fireplace glass is also easy to clean up afterward. You can experience warmth for long periods of time without having the need to clean a firepit with ash particles.

Epoxy Terrazzo

Epoxy terrazzo is our expertise at Concord Terrazzo Company. We bring in post-industrial aggregate sources and crush, clean, and package chips for use in terrazzo projects local to the Charlotte, North Carolina area to anywhere in the world.

Well known for its durability, low maintenance, and beautiful designs, epoxy terrazzo helps designers create magnificent terrazzo surfaces while earning LEED credits for using regionally sourced and recycled materials. TERRAZZCO Brand glass chips can be mixed with any marble or Mother of Pearl chips to create a one-of-a-kind design. In fact, the possibilities are endless with infinite design outcomes to build epoxy terrazzo flooring, precast terrazzo stair treads and countertops, and tile.

Epoxy terrazzo is a cost-effective product with long-term value compared to other building materials on the market. Users of epoxy terrazzo will be immersed in the beauty of epoxy terrazzo flooring that is resistant to scratches, stains, and other disturbances. When combined with recycled glass chips, it yields a decorative flooring system that is VOC-free, and healthy for indoor environments.

Glass chips are available from TERRAZZCO Brand Products. We stock a variety of colorful glass as well as mirror glass and clear glass options. For information on best practices of glass aggregates in your project, please contact a Concord Terrazzo Company representative at info@terrazzco.com.