Soil-Cement Bricks as an Alternative for Glass Waste Disposal

Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times. However, the reverse logistics of bottles, flasks, packaging and others is not always economically feasible, and landfill disposal is widespread in Brazil. The reuse of glass waste is an alternative to recycling, hence the objective of this study was to evaluate the production conditions of soil-cement-glass bricks. The use of glass waste occurred in two ways, one with a cement substitute (glass powder) and another with a soil substitute (crushed glass), in the manufacturing of soil-cement bricks. The results indicated that the glass powder was ineffective in replacing cement. On the other hand, the incorporation of crushed glass significantly improved the mechanical resistance in the specimens. The soil-cement-glass bricks (mass composed of 45% soil, 45% ground glass and 10% cement) molded in conventional and alternative forms showed resistance to the compression established by standards at 14 and 7 days, respectively. This study demonstrated that bricks produced with crushed glass have advantages from the environmental and technical points of view, contributing to the sustainability of the industrial and civil construction sectors.