Recycling in the Italian ceramic tile factories

In the Italian reality the unfired and fired by-products are totally recycled in the manufacturing cycle, and only those residues coming from depuration processes (glaze sludges and exhausted lime) cause technological problems, being less useful for recycling. Statistical data of the produced quantities, treated and recycled, divided by categories, are shown. Furthermore, we analyze a new category of ceramic residue, polishing sludges, that owing to their chemical characteristics, are not recycled in the ceramic bodies. We propose to reuse them as secondary raw materials to obtain porous materials with insulating properties by controlled thermal treatments.