Opportunities in Glass Recycling
Limiting Waste
Glass is unique in that it is endlessly recyclable. We target to recycle as much glass cullet as possible during the production process. Glass cullet requires less energy to melt and replaces carbonated raw materials. By recycling cullet, we.are able to reduce energy consumption and in turn reduce our CO2 emissions. Recycling of 1 tonne of cullet can avoid emissions of up to 700 kg of CO2.
AGC Glass Asia Pacific recycles around 180,000 tonnes of cullet per year, saving about 207,000 tonnes of raw material and 126,000 tonnes of CO2.
We are devising several projects to improve collection and reuse of cullet at our plants in Asia, such as:
- redirecting the flow of cullet to reduce transport distances between the source, the recycler and the float plant
- training our employees to sort the cullet efficiently for more effective recycling
- increasing the range of materials that we are able to load into our furnaces
- supporting the development of systems to collect flat glass from construction and demolition waste
However, the cullet used in our own production process must meet stringent specifications. Hence, we also actively seek out alternative solutions for cullet that we cannot recycle into our own products.
