Pozzotive In The News

New Rochelle, New York-based Urban Mining Industries (UMI), a sustainable concrete solutions company, has launched Pozzotive 250, a ground-glass pozzolan made from recycled glass.

UMI says it transforms postconsumer glass into a clean, ground-glass pozzolan that replaces a portion of cement in high-performance concrete, reducing carbon emissions and improving durability. Pozzotive is already in use in commercial applications, including in the new JP Morgan headquarters in New York City.

UMI says its new initiative highlights a solution to two national challenges. First, despite being fully recyclable, a substantial majority of U.S. glass still ends up in landfills. Second, the cement used to make concrete remains one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, according to the company.

“This is about taking something we routinely discard and turning it into something foundational for our future,” says Patrick A. Grasso, UMI co-founding partner. “Pozzotive 250 reflects the power of collective action—communities across the country contributing to a solution that is both practical and enduring.”

To create Pozzotive 250, UMI is inviting strategic partners and organizations nationwide to contribute recycled glass symbolizing their local communities. Participants are documenting and shipping their glass contributions to UMI’s processing facility in Beacon Falls, Connecticut, where the glass will be transformed into Pozzotive 250.

“Replacing energy-intensive cement with recycled glass provides real benefits,” says Dirk Kestner, Walter P. Moore senior principal and director of sustainable design. “Besides creating a next life for the glass, ground-glass pozzolan also requires 90 percent less energy than portland cement, and it can enhance the strength and durability of the concrete in our projects.”

Pozzotive 250 will be used in several upcoming concrete applications, which UMI says will contribute to stronger, longer-lasting roads, bridges and buildings, reducing CO2 emissions and creating a more durable infrastructure.

“The construction industry continues to face a real gap between the need to reduce embodied carbon and the availability of scalable, practical material alternatives,” says Julia Gisewite, Turner Construction Company chief sustainability officer. “At the same time, we have underutilized waste streams, like glass, that are not being effectively reintegrated into the economy. Efforts like this point to how those challenges can begin to be addressed in a more connected, systems-level way.”