This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A NEWLY developed fire-safe cladding made from recycled glass, could provide a sustainable circular-economy solution for the built environment.
A team from RMIT University has developed the new composite cladding with materials technology company Livefield.
“Experiments have proven that our claddings are fire-safe, water-resistant and cheap, and meet structural and environmentally sustainable requirements,” said Dilan Robert, lead researcher and associate professor at RMIT.
“Livefield is keen to upscale the manufacturing process of the recycled class composite cladding, with further research support from RMIT.”
The use of recovered glass waste could potentially reduce the amount of glass that ends up in landfills, with around 130 million tonnes of glass produced globally each year, with only 21% recycled glass.
“Glass is one of the most recyclable materials in the world as it doesn’t lose its quality or purity, and it can be recycled for multiple uses across a wide range of industries,” added Robert.
“By using high amounts of recycled glass in building claddings, while ensuring they meet fire safety and other standards, we are helping to find a solution to the very real waste challenge.”
The alternative cladding material utilise 83% recycled glass, with comparatively low amounts of plastic binders and fire-retardant additives.
Cladding also meets the key compliance requirement of claddings for non-combustibility set by Standards Australia, has been trialled for large-scale manufacturing capability and is now being patented by Livefield.
“Some of the most catastrophic building fires, like the 2017 Grenfell tower fire in London that led to many deaths and injuries, have been attributed to the poor fire-prevention performance of cladding materials,” said Robert.
“Building fires can happen anywhere at any time and cannot be predicted. Therefore, fire safety requirements should be embedded in the design of buildings.”
Since the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, multiple measures have been introduced to protect residents from the risks of flammable cladding, including the ACT’s Private Buildings Cladding Scheme, the Victorian government’s ban on combustible cladding and $600 million package to fix buildings already making use of the material.
The project involved collaboration between RMIT, Cooperative Research Centres Projects grants, the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Transformation of Reclaimed Waste Resources to Engineered Materials and Solutions for a Circular Economy (TREMS), Sustainability Victoria and other industry support.
