Background The production of fire-clay in Europe and in the rest of the world is growing exponentially, resulting to increasingly large amounts of waste. Polishing of ceramic and stone materials is a wet process that produces great quantities of sludge. The sludge is not reusable and is currently disposed of in landfills. The co-operative Ceramica d’Imola has carried out research into developing new products using the sludge. These new products could be used in buildings as an effective barrier against thermal and acoustic transmission and even against electromagnetic fields. Objectives The project aimed to implement a clean process for recycling and on-site valorisation of the sludge coming from polishing and smoothing of ceramic and similar materials such as marble and granite. It aimed to demonstrate an innovative process using the abrasive powders (SiC) as expanding agents active at high temperatures. The product was intended to be an innovative insulated-refractory material that could be used for building or industrial installations. Results The P.S.V. project implemented a pilot plant for recycling the sludge produced in the ceramic industry. The process recycles the sludge and reintroduces it in the production process of ceramic tiles as a raw material. The experiments carried out in the initial phase of the project led the beneficiary to opt for the production of two different products: Product ‘A’ with a content of sludge of up to 50% of the raw material and product ‘B’ with a sludge content of up to 20%. Product A has optimal insulation characteristics and can be used for such purposes, but cannot be used in pavement because it presents a low resistance to loads. Product B has also good insulation characteristics, but is very similar to the traditional products and can be used to build walls and pavements not subject to heavy loads: it can substantially replace almost all traditional tiles. At the end of the project, the pilot plant was fully operational to produce ‘B’ in order to satisfy the market demand, which was greater than expected. The beneficiary intends to replicate the pilot plant and double its capacity so that it can recover the entire quantity of sludge produced in the factory. At present, the pilot plant can re-use 4 000 tonnes/year of sludge, when the annual production is 10 000 tonnes/year; the second plant will recover 6,000 tonnes/year exceeding it current capacity. The project reached all of its environmental and economic objectives: Recycling of sludge: 3 000 tonnes/year; Recovery of water contained in the sludge: 1 000 tonnes/year; Recovery and valorisation of secondary raw materials, such as glass, powders from headstone material and ceramic scraps: 800 – 1 000 tonnes/year; Saving of raw material, such as clay, sand and feldspar: 3 800 – 4 000 tonnes/year; Elimination of the environmental impact of the polishing process: 3 000 tonnes/year of waste; Production of completely recyclable new products; Reduction of the production costs for product ‘A’ by 40%; and Reduction of the production costs for product ‘B’ by 0.96 €/m2, which involves an industrial return of 960 000 €/year for an annual production of 1 000 000 m2. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).