Wisconsin turned foundry sand into road material for major highways

Representative Image of a highway construction project utilizing foundry sand as structural fill, surrounded by construction equipment and workers (AI Generated Image) A research project in Wisconsin in the mid-1980s eventually led to the planned reuse of tens of thousands of tons of spent foundry sand in highway construction. Waupaca Foundry participated in a University of Wisconsin-Madison research study examining whether used foundry sand could be reused in road projects. Sand from Waupaca and two other foundries was tested for potential environmental impacts, including contaminants in pore water and leachate. In 1990, the research was followed by a pilot project with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, in which between 15,000 and 20,000 tons of Waupaca's sand were used in highway construction. By the time of an EPA case study published in October 2002, Waupaca was under contract to provide 80,000 tons of sand as structural fill for embankments on Highway 10 near the city of Waupaca.How Waupaca Foundry's used sand was prepared for Highway 10The larger Highway 10 project required the material to be moved and stored before construction. For 10 months starting in 2001, Waup...