Reducing waste and building a circular economy
We take our environmental impact seriously and are always looking for ways to be more efficient, manage our costs, and create a more resilient value chain.
Our ambitions
We have a simple, yet ambitious goal: to eliminate waste from our operations where we can and recycle or reuse all our waste to make new products wherever possible.
Building on the success of our recycling and ‘repair first’ strategies, we also aim to close the loop on glass waste and associated products, creating a more sustainable, resilient value chain.
We are also in the early, developmental stages of working to keep vehicle glass in our supply chain by reusing glass waste in the manufacturing of new windscreens.
Summary of progress
Glass recycling
Our global operations produce just over 159,000 tonnes of waste every year, of which around 108,000 tonnes is vehicle glass waste.
In 2025, we recycled 98% of the vehicle glass we handled, 15 of our businesses achieving 100% glass recycling.
Most glass waste is recycled into essential materials such as building insulation and road aggregates.
Reducing general waste
In 2025, we diverted 60% of our general waste from landfill, meeting our target. Nine of our businesses sent zero waste to landfill.
We continue to work with our suppliers to review the type and volume of materials used in the packaging of the products we buy, and make changes within our operations.
Smarter packaging
In 2022 we began working with Bosch to develop a solution to address the plastic and cardboard waste generated through the sale of windscreen wipers.
The updated solution separates the adaptors from the wipers, reducing unused materials requiring disposal. New packaging was also designed to minimise materials used.
Roll-out of the new wiper packs began in Europe in 2024, with 70% completed at the end of 2025. It has resulted in a 47% reduction in packaging waste and a 24% reduction in associated emissions.
Replacing wooden crates
Our glass is delivered from our primary suppliers in wooden crates which form a significant part of our general waste.
In the US, we have partnered with strategic suppliers to introduce returnable and reusable packaging solutions, these programmes avoiding an estimated 9,150 tonnes of wood waste being generated in 2025.
In Europe, with two of our suppliers, we have swapped wooden crates for cardboard which is lighter, reducing waste and transport emissions, and gives us more recycling options after use.
Working towards a circular economy
In 2023, we began a pilot with our partner AGC Automotive Europe to develop windscreens made partly from glass waste. By 2024, we had produced 250 new windscreens and started fitting these into customers’ cars in Belgium.
In 2025, we moved on to the next stage of this project, providing over 100 tonnes of vehicle glass waste so that the recycled glass could be used in the production of a wider range of windscreens.
For 2026, we are focusing on the potential to operationalise the process, and the total environmental impact and commercial viability of doing so.
Our Responsible Business Framework summarises our ambitions for doing the right thing
Climate change is a global emergency and we’re taking action to drive down our emissions.