FROM WASTE TO GLASS

The research project From the Ashes seeks ways to make the life cycle of glass better for the environment.

Benedikt Peirotén of Studio Peipei aims to redesign the process of glass-making in order to make it more sustainable. His research project From the Ashes explores using renewable raw materials instead of soda (sodium carbonate) and limestone (calcium carbonate), the other two main components of glass in addition to sand.

As well as the growing scarcity of sand, the availability of soda and limestone is changing dramatically due to climate change and human production methods. Peirotén proposes to replace these two main components of glass-making with infinite materials like the pizza wood ash and seafood shells. By focusing on waste and upcycling them to make glass, the project offers a more environmentally friendly future for glass. The new glass can even be ground to sand again, making it a closed-loop material cycle.

Photography: © Studio Peipei