Iranian Firm Turns Stone Cutting Waste into Handicrafts for Exports
"A large volume of stone is turned into waste in mines and stone-cutting factories every year, which we turn into export handicrafts," said Amirhossein Shahpouri, the managing director of the company.
Noting that there are more than two thousand stone cutting factories active in Isfahan province, and a significant volume of stone is processed in these units, he said, “Based on figures, over 80 percent of the stone is turned into waste in the extraction process, and even in factories, over 50 percent of the incoming stone is turned into waste. This shows that a large part of the country's natural resources is lost in the processing cycle.”
“Iranian stones, especially from Isfahan, are of high quality and are even exported to neighboring countries. However, stone waste, which had no use, had become an environmental problem. For this reason, our main goal in establishing the company was to utilize this waste and turn it into value-added products,” Shahpouri said.
In a relevant development in June, a technological company in Iran had managed to make lightweight 3D decorative industrial stones with a weight reduction of up to 50 percent and features like resistance to moisture.
“We have produced lightweight 3D decorative industrial stones and, using a commercial formulation, have reduced their weight by 25 to 50 percent compared to natural stones,” Shoa’yb Mousavi, the managing director of the company stationed at the Islamic Azad University’s Khorramabad branch told ANA.
“This lightness brings advantages like cheaper transportation and reduced earthquake force absorbed by the structures,” he added.
Noting that these stones are colored very fast, and the roughness on the back of the pieces creates better adhesion to the wall, eliminating the need for a scoop, Mousavi said, “The possibility of producing colored pieces and painting them after installation, installation in the form of mortar or adhesive, and resistance to moisture are other advantages of this product.”
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