Johns Manville (JM), a Berkshire Hathaway company and a market-leading manufacturer of continuous filament glass fibers, announced the successful launch of a thermal recycling unit for waste glass fibers in its Engineered Products plant in Trnava, Slovakia.

“The primary goal of this investment is to achieve a tangible positive environmental impact by drastically reducing the landfilling of glass fiber waste,” said Elena Hrivikova, Manager for Environment, Health and Safety – Europe/Asia. “This project is part of our response to the European Commission’s zero waste program and our overall target for sustainable management of the planet’s natural resources.”

The new Trnava unit has a projected recycling capacity of more than 3 tons per hour and consists of a warehousing area, feeding and transportation equipment, shredder, burning chamber and milling. After processing, the recycled glass powder is free of organic particles and refed as raw material into the glass production process on-site, thus achieving a closed production loop. The project will keep more than ten thousand tons of waste out of the landfill each year; that’s one large truck every day.

“We have invested nearly 10 million Euros into state-of-the-art technology and made sure the recycling capacity will allow further glass fiber production capacity growth in Trnava. The investment is another milestone of Johns Manville’s strong commitment to environmentally responsible manufacturing operations,” said Martin Nywlt, Director of Global Operations for JM’s Engineered Products business.