Virtual Quarry (VQ) Facility

Processing Our Glass

iQRenew’s purpose-built ‘Virtual Quarry’ processes glass of all colours, collected through Council kerbside recycling. The dedicated secondary processing facility transforms recovered glass into a high-quality manufactured aggregate sand substitute that can be used in a range of civil and construction applications.

To date, iQRenew’s Virtual Quarry has processed and beneficially reused over 230,000 tonnes of recovered glass.

The Process

Our Virtual Quarry uses advanced technology to convert recovered glass into various grades of glass sand. 

The process begins with an air separation technique that eliminates light contaminants and reduces odours to ensure a cleaner product. A comprehensive wash and clean system removes sugars and other residues, while a vertical shaft impactor crushes the glass using a velocity “sand on sand” processing method. This technique produces rounded particles, mimicking the natural sand feel. The processed glass then passes through an inbuilt rotary dryer to ensure the final product has less than 1% moisture content. Finally, our precision figure-eight screening sieve allows for meticulous grading and quality control, resulting in the production of five distinct grades of glass sand: Coarse, Medium, Fine, Superfine, and Moondust.

Learn more about our Glass Sand products.