Towards a quality protocol for enabling the reuse of post-consumer flat glass

Abstract

Architectural flat glass typically follows a linear life cycle. Its recyclability potential is not yet fully exploited due to the challenges of collecting it as well as the issues in quality compatibility with a float furnace. While the challenges of recycling glass remain, there might be the opportunity to do even more than recycling: reuse. A robust reuse practice calls for a qualification of the properties and performances by means of a quality protocol as well as the identification of the new use. This study explored the prospect of reusing post-consumer architectural flat glass panes for remanufacturing in insulating glass units. A set of IGUs harvested from residential buildings in Belgium was disassembled manually in the laboratory and the collected glass panes were classified in different quality levels as a function of the size and density of surface defects. The influence of the lifespan of the insulating glass as well as the face of the insulating glass unit was also considered. Through this study, it was found that post-consumer glass with high surface quality can exhibit similar strength values of pre-consumer glass. This suggest that it would be possible to reuse post-consumer glass in a safe and valid manner.