Glass is one of the UK’s eight energy-intensive industries. As such, it is under scrutiny to decouple growth in production from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recycled glass, also known as cullet, requires less energy to melt than primary raw materials in new glass production. The use of cullet thus reduces the energy intensity per unit of output whilst also reducing demand for primary material resources. However, efficient systems for flat glass collection are yet to be established in the UK, resulting in a limited supply of cullet available for the flat glass market and missed environmental opportunities. This study identifies the existing supply-chain inefficiencies in the UK glass industry in three stages. Firstly, the mass flows of materials within the three main glass sectors: container glass, flat glass and glass wool, are mapped from natural resource through to primary application and subsequent end-of-life management based on a reference year of annual production figures. The map is presented in the form of a “Sankey” diagram which draws attention to several opportunities for increasing resource efficiency; namely in the stark contrast in glass collection rates between the flat and container glass industry. Using the data collected on the annual mass flows of materials in the UK flat glass sub-sector, the energy (MJ) and GHG emission (CO2-eq) saving potential of enhanced end-of-life collection methods are assessed, based on three alternative recovery scenarios. These scenarios consider the use of alternative distributions of recovered flat glass cullet in the three primary glass sub-sectors. The emission savings resulting from each recovery scenario are evaluated, based on the estimated tonnage yield of finished flat glass products. It is shown that together with improved manufacturing yield, the reutilization of end-of-life flat glass as cullet in new production could reduce the annual emissions of the UK flat glass value-chain by up to 18.6%. Finally we review the existing barriers to recycling different glass types based on acceptability criteria and available take-back infrastructure, and thus find that the advancement of improved recycling rates will rely on establishing the business opportunity and/or supporting policy for developing efficient systems for flat glass collection.
A campaign to bring the law up-to-date with the current world of publishing has been led by the British Library, on behalf of all the legal deposit libraries and the publisher trade bodies. If the move is successful, new generic legislation will ensure that non-print formats are included within legal deposit – allowing UK businesses and education to benefit from access to the widest possible collections of research material, now and in the future.
This article has been amended to correct the in-text figure and table referencing and to provide clarification in Table 1 that automotive flat glass production does not take place in the UK. The Supplementary Information has been updated to correct reported units and clarify production processes.The original article has been corrected.
The Sky Pool in Nine Elms, London, is the world's first fully transparent, suspended swimming pool-allowing residents to swim 15 m between two buildings 10 floors up-and will become a landmark and an unprecedented feat of architecture for the capital. The Sky Pool was conceived as a bold, innovative and thrilling unique selling point for Embassy Gardens, one of the leading riverside development in zone 1 central London that provides 1500 new homes, world-class amenities, 40,160 m 2 of office space across two buildings and 12,100 m 2 of retail spaces and cafes, bars and restaurants. Phase 1 and Phase 3 of Embassy Gardens was delivered by Ballymore, and phase two by a Joint Venture between Ballymore and EcoWorld. Wrapped around the new U.S. Embassy, the 8ha riverside neighbourhood has a prominent location in one of Europe's most significant regeneration projects that covers the 227 ha Greater London Authority's Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea investment opportunity area, Nine Elms London (Development sites, 2021) bringing in 20,000 new homes (Fig. 1). The original concept from the architect, Arup Associates, was to use glass for its construction, however, initial studies showed that the structural glass was not the most efficient material choice. The shortcomings on strength were particularly exacerbated by the requirement of joining glass panels together which provided areas of increased stress.
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