Daily Bugle – The Shimmering Roads of a Sustainable Future

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Sand is one of the most abundant yet finite resource available on the planet. Due to its various applications, it is mined extensively for various industries such as construction and glass industry. This has resulted in extensive environmental damage such as riverbank erosion, biodiversity loss, groundwater depletion and soil habitat loss. Additionally, traditional asphalt production is a major contributor to carbon emissions, further exacerbating climate change.

Glassphalt is an innovative and sustainable alternative to asphalt which is manufactured by incorporating recycled glass into asphalt. This innovative approach tackles two major environmental concerns at once:

• Reducing dependence on natural sand by substituting it with abundant waste glass.
• Diverting millions of tons of glass waste from landfills and repurposing it into durable, high-performance road surface

While roads continue to be constructed using traditional asphalt—contributing to high carbon emissions, urban heat retention, and declining air quality—the goal is to reach 90% recycled glass integration in road construction by 2030.

The rise of Glassphalt highways opens the door to a new era of sustainable infrastructure, with transformative benefits:

• Reflective road surfaces that help mitigate the urban heat island effect, lowering ambient temperatures by up to 5°C
• Smart roads equipped with self-repairing properties to extend durability and reduce maintenance
• Solar-integrated roads capable of powering nearby urban infrastructure
• A complete revolution in glass waste management, turning a major environmental burden into a powerful asset for resilient and circular cities

Through this workshop conceptualized and facilitated by Nicole Loeser, titled “NEWS 2030 – Sustainable Innovations”, students from engineering were encouraged to push the boundaries of their imagination and critical thinking to design sustainable solutions addressing the growing demand for — and gradual depletion of — one of the world’s most essential resources: sand.