The regulatory framework derives from a 2015 European directive.
Thanks to it, the obligation to recover 95% of the weight of the cars is imposed.
For years this has inspired the automotive industries to build production processes dedicated to the reuse of glass: windows, rear windows, mirrors and windshields will not be wasted.
But there are also broken glass in irrecoverable pieces; they are at the center of a new experiment promoted by Audi.
Audi and the new glass recycling
This brand is pushing luxury towards a new frontier of sustainability.
The reuse of secondary materials and the promotion of a circular economy are the two new pillars of green luxury mobility.
To date, glass is usually reused to produce beverage bottles.
Audi is trying to develop a new, much more complex production process.
The automaker, in fact, is trying to produce new car glass from those destined for recycling.
Of course, this process is very complex as the recycled material will have to meet strict quality and safety standards.
Strength, the ability not to change in the face of time and the resistance of the new glass are essential to ensure driving safety.
Even more rigid protocols are then applied for the materials dedicated to the interiors of the cockpits.
The reuse of glass and the new sustainable luxury
The new glass cycle starts with the collection of damaged window glass which is reduced to small pieces.
In the next step, the glasses are processed and placed in the glass fiber production cycle for the production of cars.
Once the glass has been crushed and the waste has been eliminated, that is, when a pure and homogeneous material has been obtained, it moves on to another processing plant, that of Saint-Gobain in Herzogenrath, Germany.
Here the finished product begins to take shape in which the fragments, mixed with materials from non-automotive sources such as quartz sand, sodium carbonate and gypsum, are transformed into rectangular glass plates, from which new windows and windshields are then made.
