¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app AutoGlass Reaches Windshield Recycling Milestone
COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the 5th year running, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app AutoGlass® will save more windshields from the landfill than any other glass company in the country, thanks to its sophisticated recycling program. The company, which is the nation’s largest provider of windshield replacements, has sent 1.76 million windshields to be recycled this year, surpassing the total amount in 2015. And, it’s enough to reach Rome, Italy from our Columbus headquarters if you stretched them out!
¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app is the only vehicle glass company with a wide-scale windshield recycling program. Windshields are not commonly recycled because they are made from laminated glass, which is created using two sheets of glass with a clear resin interlay called Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB) between. It is the resin interlay that keeps the glass together when damaged, but it is also difficult to separate the glass and inner plastic layers and re-purpose the PVB. Additionally, the logistics of returning windshields to a recycling plant are challenging.
However, in 2012, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app AutoGlass implemented its windshield recycling program thanks to a partnership with Shark Glass Recycling North America.
With Shark’s patented technology, the laminated glass from ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app’s customers is processed through the crusher, which separates the glass from PVB. Approximately 90 percent becomes “glass cullet,” which can then be recycled into a number of new products including fiberglass insulation, while approximately 7 percent becomes PVB scrap, which is reprocessed into pellets and recycled into a number of new products, such as carpet backing, paint and primer, and other plastic products. In fact, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app uses rugs made with the recycled carpet backing with the company logo in many of its locations.
The logistics of collecting the damaged windshields and shipping to the recycling plant were designed to be carbon neutral, using existing freight lanes within the supply chain returning to ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app’s east coast distribution center. For this reason, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app currently has 70 percent of its locations returning damaged windshields and hopes to reach 100 percent in the near future.
“We believe our customers appreciate our efforts to recycle their damaged windshields,” said Tom Feeney, ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app AutoGlass’ president and CEO. “We are proud to have recycled more than 6 million windshields since 2012. We are also proud of the long list of ‘green’ business practices at our company, not just because our customers expect it, but because it’s the right thing to do.”
About ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app AutoGlass®
¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app AutoGlass® is the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services with 7,400 MobileGlassShops™ and company stores in all 50 states. Nearly 6 million customers choose ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app each year for its 24/7 national contact centers, advanced online scheduling, superior repair and replacement systems, and the industry’s only nationwide lifetime guarantee. Founded in 1947, the Columbus, Ohio-based company employs approximately 13,000 people across the United States. For more information, visit ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½app.com, or follow us on and .