Use of Waste Products in the Form of Dust and Glass Flour in Mortars

In Poland and the European Union countries, environmental awareness of a rational waste management policy is growing every year. The main problem in waste management has become the lack of areas to store waste. The correct solution seems to be the recovery or recycling of waste. Mortar is one material whose properties can be consciously modified with selected additives derived from waste. The use of waste in mortar is not only waste management, but also the modification of its properties. Today, recycled additives such as various types of glass are increasingly being used in mortar. In Europe, glass recycling reaches up to 85% of all glass packaging. A large proportion of new glass packaging is produced from recycled glass. In Poland, the situation is completely different. Only a small percentage of recycled glass is reused. A significant amount of cullet and waste glass is stored in landfills. This is a major ecological problem, which is why opportunities are being sought to manage as much glass waste material as possible. The aim of the planned laboratory tests was to manage waste coloured glass in building mortars made from Portland cement CEM II/B-V 42.5R and to determine the effect of glass flour and dust replacing cement and sand in varying proportions on the rheological characteristics and physical-mechanical parameters of the mortars. As a result of the tests carried out, the influence of the two-fraction waste material on the basic properties of cement mortars, i.e. setting time, bulk density, consistency, compressive and flexural strength, absorbability and capillary rise, was determined. Compressive and flexural strengths were tested after 7, 14, 28 and 56 days of curing. Half of the specimens made were matured under laboratory conditions and the other half under varying weather conditions. The microstructure of the mortars was examined after 28 days of maturation under a scanning electron microscope.