16 January 2025 - Maltha Glass Recycling, a European leader in glass recycling and subsidiary of waste-to-product company Renewi, is proud to announce an investment in PVB (polyvinyl butyral) recycling on its site in Lommel, Belgium. This investment marks a significant milestone for Maltha, enabling the company to continue fostering the circular economy in various industries across Europe. This investment will also result in an increase of Maltha’s recycling rate.
Maltha as sustainability partner
PVB is a type of resin mainly used in laminated glass for automobile windshields. By investing in its recycling, Maltha is providing a more sustainable solution for a stream that until now has generally been destined for landfill. In doing so, Maltha is increasingly positioning itself as a partner for upstream customers, helping them to achieve their long-term environmental objectives as part of their sustainability journey. In addition, Maltha can bring back to the market a product for which there is strong demand and which can be used in high-quality end-products.
Through this new process and technology, additional glass can also now be extracted from PVB, preventing it from going to landfill, improving the glass-to-glass circular economy further.
“We are thrilled to make this investment in PVB recycling," said Kevin Bell, Managing Director at Maltha Glass Recycling. "Maltha is committed to help advancing the circular economy across a range of industries in Europe. This achievement is also perfectly aligned with our waste-to-product strategy and our focus on recycling”.
Maltha processes around 6,000 tonnes of PVB per year at its Lommel site and this milestone is deemed to increase the site’s recycling rate by 4,2%. Overall, Maltha’s recycling rate is set to increase by 0.4%, from 97.4% to 97.8% and with this inching closer to the 100 percent mark.
The total investment amounts to €2.89 million, 30% of which is supported by the Flemish Government.
