Permeable Paving

Other links:
Recycled Glass Pavement Traps Pollutants (by Trey Granger, September 15th, 2009)
The Morton Arboretum in metropolitan Chicago installed a new walkway that is not only made with recycled glass, but it is also able to absorb pollutants, preventing them from washing down stormdrains.

The new surface is known as the FilterPave™ pavement system, and features as much as 90 percent recycled glass content.

FilterPave is primarily designed to absorb car fluids, such as engine oil and transmission fluid. University of Wisconsin testing showed it to absorb 15 ounces of oil per cubic foot. It also absorbs water, making the pavement cooler during the summer.

Eco Tech: FilterPave – Recycled glass pavement captures rainwater

Concrete Block Permeable Paving: Now, instead of constructing the pavement in a way that's designed to get the water off and away from the paving as quickly as possible, we deliberately send the water into the pavement structure.

The sub-base layer is intended to act as a reservoir, to provide storage for collected surface water and to release it to the natural environment at a controlled rate. The simplest model involves water accumulating within the sub-base from where it slowly seeps into the ground beneath. This is shown below....