Sand remains as the second most exploited natural resource after water. Excessive extraction of sand for constructional purposes has led to concerns about its scarcity. As a result, there is a growing need to explore and adopt alternative materials that can effectively replace sand in various construction applications. To that end, this paper attempts to study two local industrial waste streams, namely (a) coal mine overburden and (b) bottom ash for their geotechnical comparability with a naturally occurring sand. The study primarily focuses on the geotechnical characterisation of both the industrial wastes, and the sand samples including grain size analysis, specific gravity, compaction characteristics, relative density, and direct shear testing. The results preliminarily indicate that the chosen waste streams are potentially compatible with natural sand on the basis of certain mechanical properties. These results offer a possible reuse mechanism of the waste streams while addressing sand scarcity. However, geochemical and leaching studies will need to be conducted to assess and confirm their suitability from an environmental perspective.