Pilkington Italy Brings Post-consumer Glass Into The Flat Glass Industry

Pilkington Italy - a major flat glass manufacturer is celebrating the success of an ambitious circular economy pilot project. The initiative brought together several industry players to tackle post-consumer glass waste, specifically glass from end-of-life windows and facades in buildings.

Here's the global context, and it's not great. According to McKinsey's 2023 report on circularity in the built environment, less than 1% of flat glass worldwide is currently recycled. Against that backdrop, the benefits of recovering and reusing flat glass are well documented, scientifically sound, and economically attractive. To give you an idea: recycling one ton of cullet cuts about 700 kilograms of CO2 emissions.

That's where the "renew: glass" project comes in. It's an initiative led by Pilkington Italy to promote responsible use of recycled flat glass, cut down on landfill waste, and help the industry move forward on decarbonization. After making solid progress recovering pre-consumer glass waste from partner fabricators, the project has now expanded to post-consumer glass from the building sector, bringing in window manufacturers and glass waste processors as well.

The pilot took place at a construction site in the province of Bergamo. There, PM Serramenti handled the demolition, using selective methods to remove old window systems. Materials were separated right at the demolition stage – frames went into designated containers, and insulating glass units were sent through a specialized process that included sorting, cleaning, and crushing, with rubber, metal, and aluminum removed along the way.

The resulting cullet then went to Pilkington's Italian plant, where it went through rigorous optical and chemical testing to verify it met the high quality standards required for flat glass production. Once approved, the recycled material went back into the production process. The results were positive both in terms of finished product quality - which fully complied with current regulations and internal specs and the environmental performance of the manufacturing process.

Arturo Benini, Marketing and Product Manager at Pilkington Italy, had this to say: "This pilot project confirms once again that circularity for flat glass in the building sector isn't just theoretically possible. It can actually be done through an operational model that's structured, traceable, and meets the highest quality standards. Cooperation across the entire value chain was crucial in tackling the complexity of post-consumer glass recycling and turning it into an effective, scalable industrial practice."

The initiative strengthens Pilkington Italy's commitment to a more circular and sustainable industrial model, helping cut waste from window replacements and pushing the building supply chain toward greater environmental responsibility.