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The article is devoted to the development of vacuum insulation materials using non-traditional core materials based on natural or waste polymeric fibers. This article describes the results of research activities on this issue where test samples of insulation from primary or recycled cotton and polyester fibers obtained from textile recycling were tested. The objective was to verify the properties of the developed insulators under extremely low pressure and thus the possibilities of their potential use as core insulators in the vacuum insulating panels. On the basis of the results found on both core materials and prepared vacuum insulating panels, it can be stated that core materials based on primary and recycled polyester fibers represent a great promise for the future. By reducing the pressure in the structure of these insulators, thermal conductivity is reduced to the level typical of high-quality conventional core insulators (e.g. based on glass wool). These materials exhibited very good thermal insulation behaviour depending on pressure and time at same level as insulators based on glass wool.

Dealing with waste materials, particularly hazardous waste, is a serious problem. Disposal areas keep growing, and the costs incurred are high. Disposing of such waste reduces negative environmental impacts and offers considerable financial savings. This paper focuses on the possibilities of incorporating pollutants found in hazardous wastes as fillers in coatings based on polymers (epoxide and polyurethane). These coatings are intended mainly for concrete and metal bases and offer secondary protection against adverse weather conditions. Important physical and mechanical properties of the newly developed materials were determined, they include surface hardness, impact resistance, tensile properties, and chemical resistance. These properties were also compared to those of the reference filler. At the same time, the influence of aggressive media on the properties of these materials was observed, in particular on flexural characteristics. The microstructures of the developed coatings were tested using a high-resolution optical microscope, before and after exposure to the chemicals. The positive effect of using progressive fillers, such as solidified hazardous waste (a solidification product (SF)), was witnessed by their constructive contribution to the materials&rsquo, physical and mechanical properties. The use of solidification products is unambiguously advantageous from technical, ecological, and economical stand points (utilization of hazardous waste as a progressive filler instead of landfilling, improvement of tensile properties, reduction in the price of coating system, and incorporation of the pollutants into the polymer matrix).