Changing one of the world's heaviest-polluting industries is no small ask - but some Kiama tradies are having a crack.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Concreter Jason Cahill wanted to find ways to reduce emissions from his trade after his wife became passionate about recycling.
"At the moment, the concrete industry contributes to between five and eight per cent of the world's carbon emissions," he said.
"My wife is full-on about recycling, so we tried looking for a product that would take away from landfill. We needed something stronger than concrete, but also lighter."
After a year of experiments, including many failures, they came up with a product that is made of up to 70 per cent recycled glass.
Crushed glass from Shoalhaven recycling is used to create aggregate. It reduces the carbon footprint of a concrete product in a few different ways.
"It's lighter than aggregate, so it reduces wear and tear on trucks and fuel," Mr Cahill said.
"We don't have to mine for aggregate, and it locks away the carbon in the glass."
Mr Cahill is currently making a table from the recycled product for the Salteris of Jamberoo, but hopes to see the glass-aggregate concrete used more broadly. His other hope was to give back to the industry that had supported him for 20 years.
"Usually we'd use two metric tonnes of blue metal to pour this table - we're only using 500kg, and the rest is glass," he said.
"We want to make people aware there's an alternative - our aim is to see it in block-fill, footings, letterboxes, furniture and bench-tops , so we can reduce our waste in the region.
"Concrete is the most used products in the world, and we could save millions of tonnes."