Audi pilot project for glass recycling becomes standard
Together with Reiling Glas Recycling, Saint-Gobain Glass and Saint-Gobain Sekurit, Audi’s “GlassLoop” project is showing how material cycles can be put into serial production. The partner companies spent about a year jointly testing ways to make new windshields for the Audi Q4 e-tron out of rejected car glass. The process is now ready for standard production: first, the car windows are broken up into small pieces using an innovative recycling process that eliminates all non-glass elements like glue residue. The cullet is then fed back into automotive glass production. The secondary content of the glass produced in this way is up to 30%. From September 2023, the windshields produced in this way are to be used in the production of the Q4 e-tron.
“If we process car windows that can no longer be repaired so that they are suitable for automotive production again, we need less raw material overall and avoid downcycling car windows that can no longer be repaired,” explains Philipp Eder, Project Manager for Circular Economy in the Supply Chain at Audi.
The “GlassLoop” project is embedded in Audi’s Act4Impact programme for the supply chain. The vision is to configure the effects of the supply chain to be as gentle as possible on people and the environment. It is an imposition that pays off: As one of three awardees, Audi has been honoured with the German Award for Sustainability Projects in the “Recycling Concept” category. This award is granted by the Deutsches Institut für Service-Qualität, the ntv news network and DUP UNTERNEHMER magazine.
