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Read the latest news from the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology
Cosmos magazine has produced a feature story on the commercialisation efforts underway on the NSW South Coast using UNSW SMaRT Centre's patented Green Ceramics and Plastics MICROfactorieTM Technologies.
The story traces the collaboration between SMaRT and its partner Shoalhaven City Council.
Excerpt:
Image: SMaRT ceramic tiles feature in many locations in this apartment.
As Australia realises the dangers of working with engineered stone to manufacture benchtops and tiles, one company is bucking the trend to make high-end products largely from recyclables.
At a facility within the Shoalhaven City Council’s waste service, 200km south of Sydney, the MICROfactorie uses mostly glass and textiles – old clothes and linen – that would not normally be recycled, to make green ceramics.
The end products are tiles that are marketed as high-end, environmentally safe, engineered bio-composites suitable for construction, furniture, and other architectural and decorative uses.
The facility is one of the first “MICROfactories” that has come out of the research at the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) at the University of New South Wales, founded by Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Professor Veena Sahajwalla.
Sahajwalla, the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year, is also behind Green Steel.
Veena Sahajwalla. Credit: UNSW
Safe Work Australia last month released a regulation impact statement recommending a prohibition on the use of all engineered stone, irrespective of crystalline silica content, to protect the health and safety of workers, stating engineered stone workers exposed to RCS were “significantly over-represented in silicosis cases”.
Learn more about green ceramics recyclables
Silicosis is an incurable lung disease caused by breathing in silica.
Shoalhaven City Council received grant funding of $500,000 from the Environment Trust to enter a partnership with SMaRT in 2021 to establish a green ceramics MICROfactorie at West Nowra. This includes both green ceramics and the conversion of cleaned waste plastics into pellets or 3D printing filament.