With garbage piling up and wreaking havoc on the environment all around the world, responsible businesses have a duty to be green when possible. One of the key elements of going green is recycling whenever it is an option instead of just throwing everything in the dumpster.
To this end, many windshield replacement companies claim that they can recycle your auto glass after it’s broken. But is this truly feasible? Keep reading to learn the truth about windshield recycling.
The Problem With Windshield Recycling
On paper, recycling broken auto glass sounds like a great way to reduce waste in the windshield replacement industry. But the unfortunate reality is that it isn’t cost-effective to recycle windshields. Something you might not realize is that your windshield isn’t just a single sheet of glass; it’s actually two layers of laminated glass, separated by a plastic membrane. This plastic membrane cannot be recycled, and the process of separating the glass from the plastic expends too much energy to be a viable procedure.
Some auto glass replacement companies in the Twin Cities advertise that they recycle windshields but this is a deceptive claim. In reality, those windshields get thrown right into these companies’ dumpsters, and later get dumped in a landfill. At Glass Masters, we believe in full transparency with our customers, which is why we’re honest about the fact that windshields cannot be recycled in an energy-efficient, cost-effective manner. We’d love to be able to recycle all of the broken glass we accumulate when replacing windshields but, at this time, it’s just not possible.
The good news is that some major auto glass manufacturers, like Pilkington, are working on cost-effective methods of windshield recycling. Hopefully, their research will yield a solution sometime in the near future.
A Reliable Local Windshield Replacement Company
If you’re looking for an honest and reliable provider of windshield replacement services, just bring your vehicle to Glass Masters. Call us today if you need any auto glass replacement or repair services in the Twin Cities metro!