A new kind of glass made from discarded slate has been tested for its food preserving qualities by researchers at Aberystwyth University. Th
This is cool, they want to take half buried and very dangerous unstable waste heaps and melt them into black glass that blocks more light than amber glass thus better preserving things.
Slag heaps and waste heaps are terrifying because they can cause disasters like Aberfan if they become oversaturated and slide downhill, but also despite being 'waste' to people in the old days, they could be unearthed and used for producing other things. In a way the keeping of the heaps together may have created a secondary source of resources.
Here's an example of how close houses are to the types of dangerous waste heap that could make a fortune's worth of this black light-blocking glass. Wales is a rich country, right down to the industrial waste, and deserves independence.
(Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd)