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Glavel, a Vermont-based startup, plans to take recycled glass, grind it into powder and combine it with a foaming agent so it can be a substitute for stone gravel, which is used under building foundations and roads.

It’s time to end the zero sum game. Social and environmental responsibility should not be at odds with long term viability.

The relatively high price of this foam-glass foundation base material is offset by the lack of a need for rigid foam sub-slab insulation.

Burlington entrepreneur Rob Conboy has high hopes for Glavel. The foam glass aggregate he held on a recent afternoon looked like a stone but weighed no more than a sponge.

Vermont has had mandatory recycling since 2015. Is it working? And where does our recycling go, and what does it become?

Foam glass gravel (cellular glass) represents a simplification of sub-slab insulation installation for professional builders and DIY homeowners alike. In contrast with current methods requiring multiple products with complicated installation, cellular glass installation requires only a single product with minimal installation effort necessary.

Company CEO Rob Conboy said Glavel grew out of a Passive House conference he attended in Germany in 2016. He was scouting for European technology that could be used to lower the cost of energy-efficient construction in the U.S.

Highlighting the strength of glass over steel, and the thermally insulating properties over rigid foam board, Glavel creates a new system that can insulate without harmful environmental effects.

Building owners and developers in need of an alternative to petroleum-based sub-slab insulation and an overall boost to their sustainability characteristics, Glavel’s foam glass gravel is the solution.

Glavel’s manufacturing will transition to 100% renewable energy in summer 2020, dramatically slashing the embodied carbon emissions from the product.