The windscreen of a car must not be shattered into a thousand pieces in an accident. They are therefore usually made of laminated glass, which consists of at least two panes of glass bonded together by an elastic and unbreakable polymer film. Unfortunately, the same ingredient that reduces the risk of car occupants being injured in the event of an accident also generates large amounts of waste film that previously could not be disposed of sustainably.

“At Pilkington in Poland, we take care of everything related to waste management,” said Anna Grom, Head of Interzero Circular Solutions Europe. “The production of laminated windscreens generates large quantities of film residues that could only be treated thermally – in other words, the waste was incinerated. The windscreen manufacturer was no longer willing to put up with this, so we started looking for a solution for them.”

Stopping waste

Pilkington has a large central warehouse and windscreen production facility in Poland. Since 2006, this formerly British company has been part of the Japanese NSG Group, one of the world’s leading suppliers of glass and glazing systems and a company with high standards in sustainability. “On the one hand, it was very expensive to dispose of large quantities of film, but on the other hand, Pilkington Automotive Poland no longer wanted to simply throw away this high-quality material,” said Anna Grom. “Our job was to stop this kind of waste.” Interzero has launched its own network in Poland. Although Anna Grom is well aware that recycling companies generally do not accept polyvinyl butyral (PVB) films, “our aim was to achieve the highest possible recycling rate for our customer”.

“Thanks to Interzero, it is possible to use our surplus PVB film. This is a great success.”
Ryszard Jania, NSG Group Director in Poland

“Fantastic project”

FAGUM STOMIL plans to start series production this year, producing the first wellington boots made entirely from Pilkington’s redundant PVB film. “Circular economy solutions are groundbreaking for our company and lay the foundations for other solutions that we can present to the market as eco-friendly products,” said Grzegorz Skomorowski, Deputy CEO of FAGUM STOMIL. “We want everyone who chooses a pair of our boots to feel that they are part of a fantastic project that speaks about responsibility, sustainability and above all taking care of our planet’s environment for ourselves and future generations.”