Laminated Glass Waste Windshield Recycling Machine

Modern cities generate tremendous quantities of automotive and architectural laminated glass waste every year. Windshields, side windows, and safety laminated panels are essential for vehicle safety and construction, but after damage or replacement, they often end up in landfills. The challenge has always been that laminated glass is not a single material—it is a combination of two layers of glass fused with PVB (polyvinyl butyral) film. Traditional crushing processes are not able to separate these layers cleanly, leading to waste and low-value recovery.

A windshield recycling machine solves this challenge by enabling a fully mechanized process that separates glass and PVB efficiently, cleanly, and on an industrial scale.

1. Why Windshield Recycling Matters

Windshields are produced in massive quantities worldwide, and millions are replaced annually. Without proper processing methods, the majority of this material ends up as waste. Recovering laminated glass provides:

High-purity glass cullet for glass factories

Reusable PVB film, which can be reprocessed into automotive-grade film, safety glass film, or new plastic materials

Energy savings, since producing recycled glass consumes far less energy than making new glass

2. Working Principle of the Windshield Recycling Machine

A modern windshield recycling system typically includes the following core processes:

(1) Pre-shredding： Whole windshields are fed into a two-shaft shredder, which tears them into manageable pieces. The low-speed, high-torque design ensures that glass is broken without excessive powder generation.

(2) Fine crushing： The pre-shredded mixture enters a metal crusher or impact mill, where glass fragments are reduced to fine cullet while the PVB film remains mostly intact.

(3) Separation： Specialized separation systems—such as vibration sifters, negative-pressure air separators, and friction machines—extract the PVB film from the crushed glass.

(4) Cleaning： For higher-value recovery, the PVB film can be washed, dried, and pelletized for reuse.