Turning Industrial glass into usable art – KBC

With the growth of economies and development of infrastructure comes the increase in high-rise glass buildings and withered construction waste into the environment. For a long time, this glass lay in dump sites, unused. Kitengela Glass found an ingenious and creative way of using the glass waste.

The workforce at Kitengela Hot Glass is 100% local, with some of the artisans growing from simple handymen to highly skilled glass blowers. Kitengela glass pride themselves on being very environmentally conscious and do everything to use waste products through their entire processes. “Our products are from 100% recycled materials. They are scrap window glass and bottle glass” – Anselm Croze, Owner of Kitengela Hot Glass

This is how the system works at Kitengela:

Above the furnace, there are two tanks. One with water and the other with used oil. Within the furnace are pipes coiled through. To get the furnace going, gas is used to heat the water running into the pipes. Once the water is hot enough, the high pressure steam is released at the same time as the used oil. Due to the heat and pressure, the mixture ignites and creates a hot flame. This flame now heats the pipes and turns the water into vapour. The process is now self-sustaining and the furnace burns at 1000 degrees. Once confirmed that the glass is okay to use, It is collected, rolled, blown, colored, designed and finally cooled at 500 degrees.

Through their hard work, they have managed to achieve world fair trade status. This has been mainly through their social responsibility. “We try to do as much as we can in terms of social responsibility. For example we fence the local school, we supply scholarships and exam papers.” the ethos at Kitengela glass is that there is no waste in the process and everything produces is a work of art