This was my favorite discovery at EcoBuild last year. Gorgeous GLASSeco solid surface material uses up to 95% recycled glass for it’s worktops and will soon be producing table tops as well. The product is highly customizable for different colours or functional effects.
What they say:
“GLASSeco Limited operates from a 10,000sq ft eco factory in Greater London which diverts 5 tonnes of glass every month from the waste-stream. The new site has been purposely-designed with a tiny carbon footprint: it uses minimal electricity, all water is recycled and, most importantly, we don’t create any waste.
GLASSeco is a genuinely low-carbon product, proudly manufactured in the UK, created entirely from waste materials that were destined for landfill.”
If you like to see how things are made, GLASSeco has a film here for you.
What I say:
It’s great that they can achieve such a high level of recycled glass content, but what’s the other 5+%? My literature says the binder is “non-emitting epoxy resin binder.” So, would that be petrochemical based, then?
Where is all the glass from? How much is post consumer vs. industrial recycled content? GLASSeco also uses TV/computer screen glass through NuLifeGlass which is very cool because it means greater opportunity for such electronics to be recycled. (Unfortunately such sources mean there’s a slight risk of lead leaching, although the levels are very low…see technical specs for details.)
It seems that it is manufactured in London which, for London consumers, means almost no transportation miles – yeah!
Do they offer an end-of-life reclamation programme? If not, presumably the product would be land-filled (if no other use is found for it)?
I’ll do more on granite at some point in the future, but here I’ll just second GLASSeco’s reference to the labor situation in granite quarries in India in this BBC report.
The final analysis: I’m with Kevin McCloud in loving this material.
Photo from http://www.glasseco.co.uk.
we just bought some glasseco worktops and everyone loves them, the surfaces look amazing, especially at night when we turn on the under-counter lights, the glass really twinkles. Looks v expensive, can’t believe it’s just recycled rubbish at the end of the day. v small company with some admin and service teething problems but they try hard and you really want them to succeed.
Alice
Rinato is a similar product made in the US (Midwest), shipping it to the UK would certainly not make sense – but it’s worth taking a look at for research sake, and for your US clients! We are using it at California Closets, and it is beautiful!