Led · Seed · Feb 2022

Glavel produces foam glass gravel—also known as cellular glass—made entirely from recycled glass, eliminating the need for virgin glass or petroleum-based materials. The ultra-lightweight aggregate replaces both crushed stone and foam board under concrete slabs, simultaneously providing drainage, insulation, and substantial reductions in embodied carbon and transportation emissions. After initially importing product from Europe to build a U.S. customer base, the company is launching domestic manufacturing at a new Essex, Vermont facility scheduled to open this fall. Glavel plans to power the plant with 100 % renewable energy in partnership with Green Mountain Power and Encore Renewable Energy. In parallel, it is implementing an inclusive hiring program with Working Fields to employ people re-entering the workforce after incarceration or addiction recovery. Long-term, the company aims to scale production nationwide, capturing demand from architects and builders seeking low-carbon materials while helping solve the U.S. glass-recycling bottleneck. To fund the transition from importer to manufacturer, Glavel secured $500,000 in royalty (revenue-based) financing, its primary disclosed source of external capital to date.