Masonry Magazine November 2010 Page. 28
Making Blocks From Wine
Atlas Block, a family-operated company based in Midland, Ontario, is producing concrete construction and landscaping products using post-consumer recycled content.
Contrary to what many diligent users of residential recycling programs might think, colored glass is harder to recycle in basic municipal facilities and, therefore, often ends up in landfills. Operating with a corporate philosophy of being responsible producers, the company is firmly "on the sustainability page," says Atlas Block CEO Don Gordon. Through intensive research and development, Atlas Block has developed a recipe that includes up to 36 percent post-consumer recycled glass in their concrete products. The products are LEED certified.
The team at Atlas Block experimented with more than 100 mix designs over four years before finding success. One of the main challenges is preventing the alkali silica reaction that occurs when glass and concrete are combined. An alkali silica reaction can cause the concrete mixture to expand significantly and crack, resulting in serious structural damage.
To solve this problem, Atlas Block partnered with Poraver, a neighboring local company that uses a special process to coat tiny beads of recycled glass, thus preventing the glass from reacting with the concrete. The Poraver facility in Innis-fil, Ontario, has the capacity to convert 26,000 tons of product per year, which is about equal to keeping 40 million wine bottles out of landfills. At the Poraver facility, recycled glass is placed into a mill where it is crushed into glass flour and combined with binding agents, expanding agents, and water. The material is mixed in an industrial mixer, and poured into a palletizing dish that forms it into tiny beads. Atlas Block then uses tiny glass beads as an equal replacement for the sand component in traditional concrete manufacturing. This means that an eight-inch concrete block by Atlas Block is actually about four pounds lighter than an average eight-inch concrete block. Atlas Block incorporates up to 36% post-consumer recycled material in its concrete manufacturing process, mostly from colored glass collected through municipal blue bin programs.
STAINLESS STEEL AND COPPER CORNERS & END DAMS
Prefabricated, soldered inside corners, outside corners and end dams for all H&B flashings. Available in type 304 stainless steel and copper. Simply place underneath flashing for the ultimate protection against moisture penetration.
Use Copper with:
• Copper-Tuff™ Flashing
• Copper-Tuff™ SA Flashing
• Copper-Flex™ Flashing
• C-Fab™ Flashing
• Copper Metal Flashing
Use Stainless Steel with:
• Flex-Flash® Flashing
• Textroflash™ Flashing
• Textroflash™ Green Flashing
• Epra-Max EPDM Thru-Wall Flashing
• Stainless Steel Metal Flashing
Hohmann & Barnard's stainless steel contains an average of 60% recycled content.