Use of cullet to reduce raw materials and energy consumption

We are working to increase the cullet ratio (broken or scrap glass) in our batch by:

• Optimizing use of internal cullet
• Sharing best practices across the fleet
• Testing and implementing new cullet types
• Maximizing cullet sourcing

Guardian RAK, GulfGuard and Egypt plants use between 15 to 30% of glass cullet per glass batch. Every ton of cullet used can replace approximately 1.2 tons of raw material, avoiding the need for 2 million BTUs of natural gas and reducing up to 700 pounds of CO2 emissions.

Energy efficiency

We strive to discover technologies that improve the effectiveness of our manufacturing processes. As every initiative counts, we encourage our plants to experiment and lead the way for their sister plants around the world. Some recent examples:

• In GulfGuard, closed loop heat exchangers cleaning resulted in a reduction of the energy consumption required to operate them from 132 kWh to 33 kWh for a total annual energy savings of 867,240 kWh.
• In our Guardian Egypt plant, removing panels installed in front of the plant windows let more natural daylight in and reduced the need for artificial lighting, resulting in 50,000 kWh annual savings.
• By replacing old HPSV (High-Pressure Sodium Vapor) warehouse roof lighting with high-efficiency LED fixtures, our GulfGuard and Egypt plants have reduced their annual energy consumption by 566,000 kWh and 263,000 kWh, respectively.

Clear product information

Our products, across European, North America and Africa Middle East & India regions carry Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), so you can plan your projects with clarity and certainty.

Products manufactured in Europe are International Green Mark (IGM) certified, which is an EPD Label for the Africa Middle East & India region.

We offer Health Product Declarations (HPDs), covering three global product categories - including uncoated, sputter (vacuum) coated, and Guardian UltraMirror™ glass products.

We provide voluntary Safety Data Sheets (SDS) covering four global product categories, including uncoated, sputter (vacuum) coated, laminated, and Guardian UltraMirror™ products. This valuable information supports the safe use and handling of our glass products and provides declarations pertaining to the compliance of our glass products to various global chemical control laws.

More open-glass shipments, less wood packaging

By increasing open glass shipments in coordination with customers, GulfGuard and Guardian RAK have reduced wood packaging material use and associated waste generated by the packaging materials by about 30%.

The sites were able to reduce wood packaging imports and the associated cradle-to-gate CO₂ emissions (e.g., minimized trees cut down, processed and then transported to Guardian RAK), reduce waste generated by the wood packaging materials, improve the ease and safety in handling, packaging, and unpacking time, and increase flexibility for the labor force of Guardian and our customers.

Reducing operational carbon with glass performance

Our latest product solutions, such as Guardian SunGuard^™ SuperNeutral^™ Grey 40T can help provide the right balance between solar control and light transmission to help create comfortable living environments.

The SABIC Home of Innovation^™ in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, features the newest commercially available technologies for creating domestic comfort while reducing waste and saving energy. All windows are glazed in Guardian SunGuard^™ SuperNeutral^™ 30T, another double silver coated glass that selectively transmits natural light while helping to reduce solar heat gain. Comparing conventional glass applications under similar temperature conditions with its data acquisition system, SABIC Home of Innovation^™ estimates that the glass reduces the home's air conditioning use by 8% over the course of a week.

End-of-life glass recycling opportunities

We are constantly developing solutions to increase the amount of external cullet in our float batch, including post-consumer cullet.

Post-consumer cullet is purchased from professional glass recycling companies. Different types are tested and where possible implemented at an industrial scale.