ECOLOGICAL COMPOSITE WITH GLASS FROM WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT CONTENT.

Waste landfilling has a considerable impact on the environment, due to the priority substances and priority hazardous substances that are released from the waste. Metals such as Pb, Ni, Cd, Zn and Hg and their compounds, are considered to be priority hazardous substances due to their persistence and bioaccumulation in ecosystems. Due to the presence of the hazardous substances in the electrical and electronic equipment, at the end of life, this equipment became hazardous waste and has a specific management way in the European Union. In the current concept of the sustainable development, the recovery represents a priority direction in the flow of waste management system. The purpose of this study is to propose for a composite material with CRT (cathode ray tubes) glass waste. The CRT glass waste is mechanically processed and is coming from WEEE. The used method for achieving the composite is an ecological recovery method, using hazardous waste from WEEE, with low energy consumption, reducing hereby the CO₂ emissions that would be generated during conventional recovery processes thereof. Due to the ecological recovery method the composite material has a low cost. The experimental results, obtained after testing the compressive strength of the composite samples (55.98 N/mm ²), showed that the composite outperforms mortars in terms of mechanical strength. As a result, the obtained composite can be considered as construction material, framed in the mortars class, based on its aggregate size (particle size <4 mm) and on mechanical strength and can be successfully used for the production of decorative elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]