Case
Construction, Manufacturing,
Companies, designers
Glass trade and repair company GSF Glasgroep BV has made great strides with a completely new circular business model after participating in a CIRCO Track in 2021. They immediately put the design and business opportunity they saw into practice. Within six months, they set up a new insulation glass line with which they upgrade their own harvested glass from renovation projects and bring it back into their own damage repair branch.
GSF Glasgroep has been active as a glass dealer and repairer for many parties such as insurers, housing associations and the contracting industry for more than 30 years. Maarten Rood took over the company from his parents when it was still a traditional supply and installation company for insulation glass. In recent years, he has increasingly received comments that glass is a very polluting, CO2 emitting material. Is there a possibility to use glass in a circular or partially circular way?
This prompted GSF Glasgroep to follow a CIRCO Track. During such a Track you discover circular business opportunities together with chain partners and then develop your own case into a concrete plan.
They started the Track with grand plans to renovate entire residential neighborhoods circularly on glass. The first lesson they learned while taking the Track was that you have to start small. As a result, their goal changed from renovating entire residential neighborhoods in a circular way, to day-to-day maintenance. For damage repair, they are going to create a circular product that housing associations and insurers can use. That's the first step.
A whole new business model emerged in the Track, which GSF Glasgroep then immediately started to work with. Old insulation glass is glass that has already had a lifespan of 30 to 40 years. Previously, this glass, which comes from old buildings, went straight into the glass container. This was then recycled and used for new materials such as glass wool and beer bottles.
Now GSF Glasgroep is using old insulation glass for new circular insulation glass. In this way, GSF Glasgroep is taking a big step in the transition to a circular economy.
Curious about the full company story? Then watch the GSF Glass Group case video below.
The circular economy does not arise by itself. CIRCO (a program of TKI-CLICKNL) focuses on getting a new market moving. CIRCO therefore activates - with the support of the government - entrepreneurs and creative professionals to (re)design products, services and business models in order to then do circular business.
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