Although the main material of windscreens, glass, can be recovered and reused, the laminated plastic used during the manufacturing, PVB, could not be reused due to its impurity. Hence, a big amount of waste PVB is disposed. In a recent survey done in the USA, it was found that 8% of their waste dumps are filled with un-recycled glass. In South Africa we replace in excess of 200 000 windscreens per annum. If we have been dumping windscreens for the last 15 years, it means that there is enough dumped glass to stretch toe to toe from Johannesburg to Cape Town and back. With the windscreen repair process as a viable alternative to replacement only, we are assisting in slowing down this continued filling of un-recycled glass into the landfills and ultimately helping the environment.
