Recycled Granite Analysis of Current Granite Recycling Practices and Volumes in the United States
One million tons of granite waste are clogging local landfills across the country. The waste is in the form of sink cut outs and remnant pieces. This material is sourced from mountains and quarries all over the world. It is an undocumented process similar to how the plastics and tire recycling industries began.
In 2009, www.RecycledGranite.com was born. After years of research, Recycled Granite developed patented methods and machinery to recycle granite waste. Our latest innovation is Organic Granite™ a soil mineralizer to capture carbon. As a natural fertilizer, it also increases resistance to insects, disease, frost and drought.
The students will be working with Recycled Granite to address granite waste. There are three overall objectives of this project: 1) create an estimate of the energy and carbon footprint to quarry the slabs, ship, fabricate and install the material, 2) synthesis current knowledge about soil amendment and carbon sequestration with granite waste material, and 3) compare the carbon footprint of the production life-cycle to the potential to off-set that footprint by soil amendment. Note that “granite” is an overarching term encompassing the natural stone products identified as marble, granite and quartzite. The mineral composition of natural stone varies regionally as well as spatially within a small sample. The project investigation should include the development of knowledge about marble, granite and quartzite mineral composition.