Il riciclaggio come propulsore innovativo nel settore produttivo del vetro

One of Europe’s most important goals is to become the first carbon neutral continent in 2050. In 2019 the building and construction sector has been accounted 50% of greenhouse gases. Currently in Europe, more than 50% of the building stock dates back to the 1970s. One of the measures needed to improve the environmental performances in buildings is to intervene on theirs envelopes and windows. To this day, glass production in Italy and Europe is growing steadily, demonstrating that this material is of great interest in all its applications. The largest production sector is food glass, which accounts for 2/3 of total production, and the second largest is flat glass, mainly used in the construction sector. If we look at the building stock, we can see that most of these windows and doors are now inadequate to fulfil the requirements and will have to be replaced. In addition to glass production, the recycling of glass is a growing sector. Starting from the characteristics of this material, which is 100% recyclable, and analysing the existing building stock, this paper aims to investigate the possibility of replacing old windows and doors with glass recycling. Flat glass, a post-consumer material, difficult to recycle, could be integrated with positive results into the production process, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and the consumption of raw materials.