Glass in road grit..

justlittleoleme

I live on a park home site & this year the grit supplied for paths & roads contains a lot of small glass pieces. This is then brought indoors trapped in the soles of our shoes & our dog's paws. Just recently, when sweeping an inside floor I got a small piece of this glass in my finger which has caused an infection - off to xray on Monday to see if its still in there but suspect it is. I have never known glass to be used before in grit for roads/paths & do wonder if anyone knows if this is a correct practice.

fluffnutter

Have you spoken to whomever owns the site/organises the gritting? You need to find out whether it is indeed the grit that contains the glass. If so, they need to be told that it's causing problems.

cool-dog

My local council use the glass collected from recycling to re-surface the roads.

grayme-m

How big or how small? This sounds insane!

Valli

When you say road grit do you mean rock salt for making the road safe when icy?
Are you sure it's not salt crystals?

Used glass is crushed and used for building roads as an undersurface below tarmac but wouldn't be spread on the roads as a surface.

Scientific test.

Get some warm water and put the glass in and agitate (scientific word for shake) - you could use an old jar.
If the crystals mostly dissolve (there may be some impurities) it's salt - if they remain unchanged definitely glass.

HTH

mttylad

This is not the first time it has been done.

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/4125317.GREENWICH__Anger_as_council_uses_crushed_glass_to_grit_snowy_roads/

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/readersletters/8833465.Glass_in_grit_worry/?action=complain&cid=9125080

saintjammyswine

About 12 years ago there was a trial of a product called Glasphalt that was recycled waste bottles & jars (packaging glass) rather than drinking glasses. This glass was seperated from normal commercial waste (e.g. pub) at source into another bin, usually purple. This was then ground to the size of asphalt grit and added as a road covering. Benefits included reducing waste glass from mainstream waste and landfill and also an unexpected by product was that the road covering was quieter than 'normal' asphalt. It also reduced the cost to the pub etc. of the waste collections as the bins had less waste and were lighter.

GlynD

It could be quartz crystals.

justlittleoleme

sorry for delay in thanking you all for your replies. We have spoken to the manager of the park site we live on & he says this was supplied by the park's owners for use in grit bins so people can use it for their paths etc. The pieces of glass are very tiny indeed but it is most definitely glass! I spent quite a few hours on Wednesday this week first of all in xray & then in A&E at my local hospital but had to return yesterday to have a minor op under local anaesetic to remove this from my finger. Not happy as now have a very painful bandaged finger!!:mad: