Keeping Glass Circular
Many products and components used in building and construction are made from materials that cannot be recycled at the end of their life. Researchers in the UTS Material Ecologies Design Lab (MEDL) have developed a novel ceramic material using recycled glass fines (small glass particles). This method transforms industrial waste into sustainable, low-embodied carbon building products that can be 100 per cent recycled at their end of life.
Representatives of the MEDL research team (Dr Stefan Lie, Professor Tim Schork, Ella Williams and Nahum McLean) will lead a conversation on industrial waste and demonstrate robotic 3D printing techniques that keep glass production circular.
Speakers
Dr Stefan Lie is a product designer and co-director of the UTS Material Ecologies Design Lab,working at the intersection of product interaction, material ecologies and sustainable design. His research emphasises the relationship between humans and materials based on an object’s form, surface and texture, and its resulting contribution to cultures of overconsumption and waste. He has a particular interest in the use of next-generation bio-derived polymers as an alternative to petrochemicals.
Ella Williams is a product designer and PhD candidate with the UTS Material Ecologies Lab, working at the intersection of sustainable materials and digital technologies. Her research is practice based and aims to find ways of utilising bio-based and waste materials through 3D printing and computational design methods. Her current research looks at 3D printing of building components with a recycled glass powder.
Details
Venue
On Gadigal land
Sydney Design Week Material Labs
4–7 Eddy Ave Central Station
Haymarket NSW 2007