(Credit: Saint-Gobain)Saint-Gobain has achieved zero carbon production of flat glass. This technological effort was achieved last week by using 100% recycled glass (cullet) and 100% green energy, produced from biogas and decarbonized electricity. It was implemented for one week in Saint-Gobain's flat glass manufacturing plant in Aniche, northern France, the company says.
By mobilizing the network of partners developed by Saint-Gobain, the focus was placed on circularity, with the use of 100% cullet from end-of-life glass from renovation or demolition sites and from production offcuts. The group's industrial and research teams succeeded in adjusting all of the furnace's technical parameters to this dual challenge of operating with 100% recycled material and 100% biogas, while ensuring the right optical quality of the glass. This pilot production demonstrates the feasibility of successful climate-ready innovations throughout the glass value chain, according to the company.
Saint-Gobain has also pledged to recycle over 1,000 tons of glass per year for the next five years, diverting the material from landfills and upcycling the components for future use through an agreement with a third-party processor based in Minnesota.
Saint-Gobain, through its subsidiary CertainTeed, has also invested $32 million to upgrade equipment at its insulation plant in Chowchilla, California, which will expand the facility’s production capacity by 13% and significantly reduce its carbon footprint.
Additionally, Saint-Gobain has announced plans to invest $100 million over the next two to three years to expand its CertainTeed roofing shingle manufacturing facility in Peachtree City, Georgia, in a project that will put a focus on sustainability at the forefront. And the company is installing heat recovery technology at its gypsum wallboard plant in Vancouver, which the company says will improve the facility’s energy efficiency and reduce its carbon emissions by 10%.
