The trade association that represents some of the major flat glass manufacturers has called for a glass used for windows in buildings to be banned from landfill.
Glass for Europe has members including AGC Glass Europe, NSG Group, Saint-Gobain Glass and Sisecam/Trakya Cam and in efforts to improve the resource efficiency of its products, wants to recycle window glass used in construction and increase the use of high quality recycled cullet in its production processes.
In a report, Recycling of End-of-Life Building Glass, it points out that glazing from buildings could easily be dismantled and recycled in glass furnaces, but this almost never takes place.
Glass for Europe would like to see targets considered for the recycling of flat glass, a ban on sending the material to landfill, technical guidance for developing the collection processes for flat glass, and the EU to support the development of new technologies for processing and producing recycled flat glass.
The report states: “Glass manufacturers are ready to take back waste flat glass to be recycling into new flat glass products, provided quality specifications are met.
“Flat glass manufacturers agree on and support the principle of closed loop recycling to increase the recycled content of flat glass products, as there is still room to increase the percentage of recycled glass used in the manufacturing process.
“Building glass cullet that cannot be recycled technically and cost effectively in the flat glass sector could be recycled in other sectors of the glass industries, such as in the container and fibre glass sectors.”
