Waste glass upcycled into stylish art pieces

MASTER GLASSMAKER AT ARTS UNIVERSITY LEADS PILOT TRIALS

- By ATHWENNA IRONS

A PIONEERING project taking place on Dartmoor has shown how waste flat glass can be upcycled into new art pieces, whilst looking after the environment.

Master glassmaker and innovator Ian Hankey, Principal Technician at Arts University Plymouth’s Fab Lab South West, has led pilot trials that turn end-of-life window glass into stylish craft products, such as bottles and candlesticks.

The trials took place in a small glassblowing workshop at Brimpts Farm near Dartmeet, with the method using ash from the farm's biomass system and other bio waste.

Mr Hankey designed and built the specialised small-scale equipment to produce the first test pieces on site, thanks to a successful Crowdfunder campaign that raised over £10,000.

“These pilot tests indicate that locally-sourced bio ash can act as an effective flux for end-of-life window glass. By lowering furnace operating temperatures by around 500 degrees, glass is remade into new flat products, and using waste stream materials as colourants and modifiers, we've produced the first examples of viable glass upcycling, demonstrating a blueprint for the small-scale circular production of glass, in this case on a working farm.”