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Recycled-Glass Abrasive Gets Nod from Navy

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Novetas Solutions LLC announced that a new production facility for its abrasive product New Age Blast Media® has been added to the Department of the Navy’s Qualified Product Listing under MIL-A-2262B. The abrasive media is composed of 100% recycled crushed glass, the company says.

With the approval, the Navy has approved two New Age Blast Media production facilities under MIL-A-22262B. The sites are the new facility at Sewell, N.J., near Philadelphia, and a plant at Chester, Va., near Richmond. The Virginia plant QPL approval was granted in March, the company says.

The abrasive media can be used on ships, tanks, vehicles, and other types of equipment that require dry or wet abrasive blasting, Novetas Solutions says. The recycled-glass media is reported to contain no free silica and no heavy metals nor toxic compounds.

“The Navy guidelines to gain QPL approval are rigorous and extensive,” the company said in announcing the addition to the listing. “These rules encompass both the abrasive itself and the production facility.” The company said the capability survey for a plant includes a site visit and analysis of the plant’s operational process and capacity.

Novetas Solutions says either plant can ship to all U.S. military bases and federal or state agencies anywhere in the world, adding that the New Jersey plant has shipped blast media to many states in the country including U.S. military facilities in Hawaii, and to bases in Japan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The company says glass used to make the abrasive media is often diverted directly from landfills, adding that the Virginia facility draws a significant amount of its recycled glass from Canusa-Hershman Recycling of Virginia, described as a single-stream recycling plant that takes in recycled glass from most of northern Virginia.
 
A significant amount of the Virginia recycled glass will serve as the raw material for blast media to be used in the shipyards of Norfolk, Va., Novetas Solutions says.

More information: www.newageblastmedia.com.