Amazing strides in the recycling of ceramics
Ceramics. Such a frustrating area for me when my focus is reusing/recycling. When that plate/mug/vase gets a chip, thrift stores won't take them, or if they somehow come into possession of chipped ceramics, they throw them in the trash. I know because I’ve witnessed it, to my dismay. I've researched the potential uses of broken or chipped ceramics, and there aren't many. Getting broken or chipped ceramics to people for mosaic projects is one resource, but the fact is that there aren't enough mosaic projects or people doing them to use up all of our broken and chipped ceramics. Another resource is, either directly or through a recycling facility, getting the materials to contractors who use the pieces in driveway underlayment or pathways. I've also seen websites which suggest broken ceramics can be used to create drainage at the bottom of potted plants, and there are nurseries which sell bags of broken ceramics for that purpose.
The above are all good things, but they're all I've been able to find regarding reusing broken or chipped ceramics in the United States. I haven’t found any information that anyone in the U.S. is recycling ceramics. I'm creating this post to let you know about the Green Life 21 project in Japan, which recycles used/broken ceramics to make new ceramics. The new ceramics are called ReDish. Green Life 21 began in 1997, and Yoshikazu Hasegawa, one of the founders of the project, noted that while the recycling of plastics had become important by then, not much attention had been paid to recycling ceramics because clay is seen as a natural ingredient, and therefore making ceramics didn’t do much harm to the environment. Mr. Hasegawa said they realized this was merely an excuse because ceramics factories consume a large amount of fossil fuel to burn dishes. They decided to find a way to recycle their broken or used ceramics.
Green Life 21 finally came up with a formula for their ReDish products which is 20% used/broken ceramics and 80% new material. The 20% blend allows the manufacturers to use the exact same procedure to burn the ceramics while keeping the physical properties of the ReDish products exactly the same as 100% virgin material ceramics. For more details about the project, or if you’re interested in ReDish products, go to this link: http://www.edgyjapan.jp/2010/02/20100228-1.html.
Is there anyone interested in manufacturing recycled ceramics in the U.S.? Either modifying your existing manufacturing plant, or starting your own? Obviously we would need more than one used ceramics recycling plant in the U.S., given our large geographic area, but that just means more jobs can be created in this endeavor in the U.S. Write a grant. Talk with your friends. Let’s start recycling ceramics in the U.S.