Fire Glass is working alongside Pilkington UK to bring previously “non-recyclable” fire-rated glass back into the manufacturing loop, marking what both companies describe as an industry-first circular recycling route.
The breakthrough sits within Pilkington’s NSG Group renew:glass programme, but from Fire Glass’s perspective, the achievement is driven just as much by what happens on the factory floor as by what happens in the lab.
Fire-rated glass has long been a headache for recyclers. Built from multiple bonded layers – interlayers, gels, plastic pads and fire-resistant tapes. It has traditionally been rejected from recycling streams due to contamination risks in the float glass process. Most of it, despite being glass at its core, has ended up in landfill.
Fire Glass worked with Pilkington to challenge that assumption. The companies ran a structured trial in which Fire Glass teams at Manchester and Oldbury implemented strict sorting and decontamination procedures, with operatives trained to manually inspect and strip out non-glass components before the material is approved for return.
Pilkington supported the process with technical guidance and site collaboration, helping refine handling standards so the material could safely re-enter its cullet stream and be remelted into new float glass.
After the trial phase, the system was scaled up in April 2025. Since full rollout, Fire Glass has returned more than 500 tonnes of processed fire-rated glass into the manufacturing cycle, avoiding what would previously have been landfill disposal. The partnership has also delivered an estimated 356.09 tonnes of CO₂e savings.
“This partnership with Pilkington demonstrates what can be achieved when operational expertise and innovation come together. Being able to divert fire-rated glass away from landfill and back into production is a major milestone for us. Not only does it improve waste management, but it also supports our wider sustainability goals by helping to reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to a more circular approach within the glass industry.”
Sean Haunes, COO
For Fire Glass, this development represents a shift in how the sector can approach ‘problem waste’ materials in construction glass. A key breakthrough wasn’t just technological – it was operational discipline: tight contamination controls, consistent training, and close coordination with Pilkington’s production requirements.
The next stage is to explore whether post-consumer fire-rated glass – material recovered after installation and use – could be brought into the same system in the future, potentially expanding the circularity model beyond factory offcuts into the wider built environment.
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