Don’t cry over broken glass

The windscreen may be smashed, but it still has value… The company Shark Solutions can recycle the sought-after material PVB, which is used to laminate glass.

PVB is an oil-based product, which is used as an adhesive to strengthen, join and combine materials in paints, printer ink, carpets and solar panels etc. The majority of the world’s total production of PVB is, however, used to laminate glass in windscreens.

When a windscreen comes to the end of its life due to a thrown-up stone or scrapping, it normally ends up at the tip, and neither the PVB nor the glass are recycled.

PVB is not cheap and yet global demand for it is on the increase. Today, only four companies in the world produce PVB, and the recycling of PVB offers significant environmental and financial benefits.

Watch a film about Shark Solutions

Recycling at a third of the price
Shark Solutions has developed a machine which can separate and recycle PVB from laminated glass. The quality of the recovered PVB is as good as new. And, as Shark Solutions can use shattered windscreens to manufacture it, recycled PVB costs a third of the price of new PVB.

Customers are generally companies that already use PVB, such as manufacturers of windscreens, carpets, paint and solar cells. The price of PVB is agreed with the customer and varies from industry to industry, as the PVB is available in different qualities depending on the industry norms.

Shark Solutions has high expectations for sales, and several companies, particularly in the US, have shown interest in entering into agreements for the supply of cheap and environmentally-friendly PVB.

The customers were sceptical
Shark Solutions' greatest challenge has been to convince industrial customers of the quality and usability of recycled PVB, in spite of the fact that recycled PVB is of equally high quality, cheaper and even more environmentally friendly than normal PVB.

Conversely, in other areas, Shark Solutions' focus on CSR-driven innovation has made it easier for the company to gain access to venture capital. In 2008, Shark Solutions received a EUR 1.35 million investment from the Danish State Investment Fund, Vækstfonden, to develop the company. Vækstfonden has, in return, been given a seat on the board of directors and scope as co-owner to streamline Shark Solutions' business strategy.