100% Reused flat glass

90 million kilos of glass

Every year, more than 90 million kilos of glass is recovered from construction and demolition waste in the Netherlands. Old glass is recycled into glass granulate, a raw material for glass wool and packaging material, that is not clean enough to be recycled into new flat glass. As a result, suppliers have no other choice but to manufacture flat glass from virgin materials, consuming a lot of energy and resulting in significant carbon emissions connected with importing glass.

Reused insulating glass (2021-2023)

To tackle this problem, AUAS has joined forces with the construction industry in the Reused Insulating Glass project. Together, the project partners explored ways to repair and upgrade or dismantle and partially reuse end-of-life insulating glass, resulting in HR++ glass made of 50% recycled glass. Some project partners now sell this recycled product themselves. Furthermore, the researchers and project partners have explained to 130 interested companies how they too can start reusing insulating glass during the final seminar. The project's major impact did not go unnoticed: it came third at the 2024 RAAK awards.

Insulating glass consists of two sheets of glass, one of which is coated. If you dismantle the glass, you can reuse the uncoated sheet and simply combine it with another coated sheet. Within the latitude offered by Dutch insulation standards, this is currently the best we can do.

Ed Melet

Associate professor of Circular Building

Sequel: 100% Reused Flat Glass (2024-2026)

In the 100% Reused Flat Glass project, AUAS and the construction industry are investigating the possibility of toughening and laminating old glass sheets to produce various types of safety glass, as well as exploring ways to remove the coating from used sheets of glass. The research consists of field tests, laboratory tests and field studies, along with environmental analyses and market consultations.

Education

The 100% Reused Flat Glass project also has links to teaching at AUAS. During a workshop on recycled insulating glass, for example, AUAS students get to work on a case study themselves. On top of that, teaching staff use knowledge produced by the project in their teaching.

Team

• Jolanda Tetteroo (project leader)(opens in new window)
• Nancy de Boer
• Ed Melet

Partners and funding

The 100% Reused Flat Glass project is co-funded by a RAAK SME grant from the SIA taskforce for applied research and is conducted by researchers from the Circular Construction research group at AUAS. They work with dozens of parties from all parts of the construction industry, ranging from glass suppliers and building physics experts to building owners and construction and demolition companies.