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Ty-Mawr Lime Ltd of Llangasty near Brecon were chosen as just one of four projects in the UK to receive funding through the Government’s WRAP initiative which was established to encourage recycling and waste minimisation. Ty-Mawr’s successful bid was to test, through to Building Regulations Certification, the substitution of sand for crushed, recycled glass in lime mortars and plasters
Nigel Gervis, Director said “as a business specialising in ecological building products, we wanted to look at environmentally-friendly alternatives to sand in our plasters and mortars. Over 2 million tonnes of sand are extracted every year in the UK and there are concerns that we will not be able to extract enough of this natural resource to meet the predicted housing stock needs of the country, on the other hand we recycle just 25% of the bottles we use in this country compared to 95% in Switzerland, so we wanted to trial the potential of glass as an alternative to sand”.
However, the project was far from straightforward, although initial trials by Ty-Mawr worked well, because of the way the glass is collected with varying levels of possible contamination, extensive testing, lasting for almost 12 months, needed to be undertaken to ensure that the materials complied with current building regulations. John Houston of the Centre for Heritage – Stone and Masonry at the Building Research Establishment in Watford said “because of the uniqueness of the product, we couldn`t predict how recycled glass would react to the fat lime. We were very encouraged when the initial performance test results proved so positive. With the huge problem we have with waste in the UK, it’s fantastic to see a traditional `green` material like lime mortar evolve to a new level of sustainability by incorporating a recycled material”.
The products were launched at Ty-Mawr on the 18th June at an event attended by 40 architects, specifiers and plasterers. Guest plasterer, Neil Day of Historic and Decorative Plasterwork Limited who has worked on such projects as the restoration of Prior Park and Longleat House, has been trialing the products, “the incorporation of glass instead of sand in these products does not detract from their practical application and has definite advantages for the plasterer. I would be keen to use these products as a standard plaster in every day use as well as for a decorative finish”.
The testing would not have been possible without the support of the Wales Environment Trust and financial assistance from GLASU, the LEADER Plus project in Powys.
For further details, please go to http://www.glassplaster.co.uk or contact Joyce Morgan-Gervis at Ty-Mawr Lime Ltd on 01874 658249 or email tymawr@lime.org.uk.
Glaster is also available for online purchase in the Lime Products section
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