Second to water, concrete is the most consumed material in the world, responsible for over 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to think tank Chatham House. Interested in lowering the climate impact of concrete, Dale Hauke, B.S.F. ‘77, has led a project to convert waste materials that makes concrete more sustainable. 

 Hauke got involved with Urban Mining Industries in 2007, a start-up company that was struggling to commercialize a ground glass pozzolan, trade named Pozzotive.  Pozzolans are major components of high-performance concrete and replaces up to 50% of the cement in concrete. Their product was developed with sustainability at the forefront, made from dirty waste glass that is cleaned to an extraordinarily high level of cleanliness without water use.

 His guidance provided the technical information required to begin testing the product. By 2010, a pilot plant was set up and Pozzotive was used in many high-profile construction projects in the Northeast US. In 2021,  a full-scale plant was opened to produce Pozzotive; the first of its kind in the world. It is designed to produce 50,000 tons of ground glass pozzolan per year, which translates to an annual carbon emission reduction of 50,000 tons that was created by the manufacture of cement.  

At first, it was a challenge to get concrete producers to test with their product, but Hauke has noticed a positive trend in architecture, noting that “back in 2010, there was little interest in reducing the carbon footprint of concrete, but that has changed as many architects and engineers are designing buildings with low carbon construction materials.” 

Pozzotive has become a key player in sustainable construction, such as their projects in New York, with the United Nations Plaza and the New York City subway, or even projects like the Marine Getaway in Vancouver Canada.

Hauke reflects on his education at SEAS, seeing the SEAS Forestry education’s focus on management skills as pivotal. Additionally, his three summers spent at Camp Filibert Roth as a student, teaching assistant, and finally a researcher for Dr. Gary Fowler he finds are easily the best three summers of his life. His biometrics classes, as well, he says, “taught me analytical skills that have been the hallmark of my career.”