Quick Summary
• ORNL and Vitriform3D Turn Discarded Glass Bottles Into 3D Printed Building Materials May 13
Additional Context
A startup born out of Oak Ridge National Laboratory is using binder jet 3D printing to turn recycled glass into coasters, decorative tiles, and architectural cladding — potentially diverting thousands of tons of material from landfills. Vitriform3D, co-founded by Alex Stiles, has developed a process that crushes waste glass bottles into a fine powder, then uses a robotic arm to spread the particles in layers while nozzles jet adhesive and ink to bind and color the material. The finished object is heated in an oven to set its final shape, much like pottery.
Binder jetting had previously been applied to metal, wood fiber, and sand, but crushed glass hadn’t been used as a feedstock before. The final product is classified as engineered stone, composed of 90 to 95 percent recycled glass waste