Recycled Car Windshields Get a Second Life in Your Home

From Arron on July 26th, 2010 in Window Replacement

Have you ever seen what happens to windshields in an accident? You’ve probably noticed that the glass shatters but stay intact, protecting you from bits of flying glass shards. In contrast, we’ve all walked by a pile of glass in the street, broken to pieces the night before when someone had their car door window smashed.

So what makes windshield glass different from car door glass? It’s the glue and laminated plastic involved in windshield construction. Amazing for safety, but tiresome for glass makers who want to reclaim the product and give it a second life elsewhere. Ron Sundholm, founder of Second Glass in Portland, has come up with a solution for reinventing this resilient form of glass — and installing a much prettier version of it in your home. It’s been garnering a lot of attention, including recognition as one of Sustainable Industries Top 10 Green Building Products. We sat down with Ron to get the story.

What is “Second Glass?”

Second Glass is a beautiful glass product that can be substituted for virtually any application you can think of: shower enclosures, cabinet doors, fireplace fronts, office walls, lighting, and hundreds of other uses around the home.

How did you come up with the idea?

Sundholm: A while back, I was having a windshield replaced in my own car. After the guy was done replacing the windshield, he took the glass right around the corner and tossed it into a big garbage dumpster. I was surprised that he didn’t have a special recycling container for used glass. I went over to the bin and looked inside, and it was filled with smashed-up windshields. I was shocked that all this glass was being wasted, and after researching for a while, I realized it was all ending up in landfills.

Sounds like you’re keeping glass out of the landfills. How much could potentially be saved?

Sundholm: In the Portland Metro Area alone, there are about 560,000 lbs. of glass in landfills right now. So potentially, we could keep all of that from going to waste. I can’t even imagine how much glass is sitting in landfills nationwide.

How much of Second Glass is made from reclaimed windshields?

Sundholm: This glass is made of 90% reclaimed material. That’s far better than other reclaimed materials out there, even glass products, where maybe 20% of the finished product is recycled glass.

I read in an article that Second Glass is actually less expensive than new glass. By how much?

Sundholm: The measuring stick to use would be for shower glass enclosures. We are about 20-25% under the market price. We definitely compete for other applications as well.

Any benefits over regular glass?

Sundholm: We have three points that we really market. When someone buys this glass, they’re doing three things.

1. You’re reducing landfill waste by buying products that keep a great deal of these windshields out of landfills.
2. This product is carbon-neutral. There’s no CO2 released, so we’re cutting our own carbon footprint. In other words, we don’t add heat to an already-warming climate.
3. We are priced competitively. Often times, when you purchase eco-friendly products, you have to pay extra for it. But in our case, we’re right in line price-wise with other types of new glass.

Who can purchase the glass?

Sundholm: Anyone. All you have to do is go to the site and e-mail me with your contact information and an idea of what it’s for. We do our best to work with what a customer wants. All projects are customized, so we make and install the glass into whatever application a customer needs.