On the occasion of the Greentech Festival in Berlin, Audi presented a new recycling process. The house of the four rings will adopt components composed al 30% from recycled glass for the production of the Audi Q4 e-tron windscreens.
Applying the closed glass cycle in the automotive sector is far from obvious, but Audi intends to lead the way for premium manufacturers. There car manufacturer German has decided to integrate the 'GlassLoop' project, created in partnership with the specialized companies Reiling Glas Recycling, Saint-Gobain Glass and Saint-Gobain Sekurit, in the production process of full electric C-Suvs. In fact, it is no longer sufficient, in terms of sustainability, to reuse the glass of windshields and panoramic roofs to make bottles or insulating materials.
Thanks to Audi's green planning, the crystals that have reached the end of their life will now be ground, purified through the elimination of glues, and transformed into granular material useful for a new fusion. In doing so, 4% of the windshields in the Q30 e-tron range will be made from secondary, recycled material.
Audi aims for new closed cycles
The attempt to reduce the need for primary material is not unique to glass. Audi will replicate that approach on steel, aluminum and plastic, across the recycling and the reuse of materials from end-of-life vehicles.
THEimplementation of further closed cycles in fact, it will allow “rationalizing the use of resources and reducing the environmental [and economic] impact of products” (Markus Duesmann, CEO of Audi AG).
The project is part of the broader corporate goal of achieving the carbon neutrality of all activities by 2050.
Sources: ansa.it, inforicambi.it
