AGC Group announced that it will begin a demonstration project in June 2026 to collect and recycle discarded wind-shields generated during vehicle repair and replacement. The project will be carried out through its consolidated subsidiary Autoglass. AGC aims to establish a scheme to recover and recycle automotive glass that has traditionally been treated as industrial waste and reuse it as raw material for architectural flat glass, drawing on knowledge gained through resource-circulation initiatives for architectural glass.
According to AGC, this is the first systematic initiative in Japan to circulate waste automotive glass as raw material for architectural flat glass (based on AGC research as of June 2026).
Roles of participating companies
Scheme Development and Operation: Autoglass.
Glass Replacement and Separation of Glass and Components: AG Expert, Oda Safety Glass.
Manufacture of Architectural Flat Glass Using Recovered Cullet as a Raw Material: AGC.
Project overview
The demonstration project will verify a new resource-circulation scheme that covers the entire process from collection to recycling of discarded wind-shields. It will make use of the wholesale, sales, and delivery functions of Autoglass for automotive replacement glass, together with its network of automotive glass installers across Japan.
Autoglass will build and operate the scheme, AG Expert and Oda Safety Glass will handle glass replacement and the separation of glass and components. AGC will use cullet recovered from collected wind-shields as a raw material in the manufacture of architectural flat glass.
Evaluation and expected impact
The project will assess whether cullet refined from collected discarded wind-shields can be used as a raw material for AGC’s architectural flat glass. It will be evaluated from the perspectives of quality, supply stability and practicality.
The use of recycled cullet is expected to help reduce CO2 associated with glass raw materials, as well as energy-related CO2 generated during raw material procurement and manufacturing. For each tonne of waste automotive glass recycled, GHG emissions are expected to be reduced by approximately 0.6 tonnes on a Scope 1, 2 and 3 basis.
AGC also aims to reduce the volume of discarded wind-shields sent to landfill and help build an effective model for advancing a circular economy.
