Energy consumptions and CO2 emissions resulting from different handling strategies of glass from end-of-life vehicles.

Every year a large number of vehicles become useless. They become end-of-life vehicles (ELV) and need to be scrapped. The materials from a vehicle will be taken care of for reuse, recycling, recovery or disposal. For the glass, there are at least three scenarios, with different handling techniques: 1. dismantling of the glass from the ELV before the ELV is shredded 2. separation of the glass, from the shredder waste, to be used for new glass products, or 3. separation of the glass along with some other inorganic fractions, from the shredder waste, to be used for filling material. The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the environmental impacts from these three scenarios. The investigation is from a life-cycle perspective, beginning when the ELV arrives at the vehicle dismantler and ending when the glass has become a new product. The glass is not a hazardous material and all emissions to the environment are directly linked to the use of energy, with one exception. When new glass products are produced from virgin materials, some chemically bound carbon is released as CO2, which will be prevented if recycled glass is used instead. All results are therefore presented as energy consumptions and CO2 emissions. The recycling of glass results in small reductions in energy consumptions and CO2 emissions, compared with recycling of other materials. In this study, scenario 1 presents itself with a higher possible recycling rate and also the highest savings of energy and CO2. Scenario 2 has the second highest savings and a brighter future in technical development within the recycling business. The simplest option presented in this study is scenario 3, with savings close to zero.