UK ready-to-drink cocktail brand, Funkin Cocktails, has turned to Beatson Clark as it aims to capture more of the market. The brand is switching to a British designed and manufactured bottle, having previously used imported standard glass bottles. The new bottle is made of amber glass, contains 60% recycled materials and offers better protection from ultraviolet light than clear glass.

Ben Anderson, Marketing Director at Funkin Cocktails, said “After winning numerous industry standard awards, the next step is to premiumise the packaging and ensure the brand is still front of mind for cocktail consumers. With the help of Beatson Clark we’ve now got an iconic bottle with its own unique silhouette."

With Glass Worldwide as official journal, the 44th ASEAN Glass Conference is underway in Pattaya, Thailand, hosted by the Glass Manufacturers Industry Club, The Federation of Thai Industries (GMFTI).

Following a golf tournament and cocktail reception, Harris Hendraka (AFGM Chairman), Jariya Sangchaiya (GMFTI Chair), Somporn Temudomsomboon (Chair of the conference organising committee) and Piti Srisangnam (keynote speaker and Associate Professor in Economics from Chulalongkorn University) addressed over 300 delegates at a grand welcome ceremony.

Technical sessions will follow under the event’s ‘Glass: Sustainable World Solutions’ theme, with presentations including:

Borosil Renewables Limited (BRL) has acquired an 86% stake in Interfloat Group, Europe’s largest manufacturer of textured tempered solar glass, through its overseas wholly-owned subsidiaries. The Interfloat Group consists of GMB Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg GmbH (GMB), located in Tschernitz, Germany, and Interfloat Corporation (Interfloat), based in Ruggell, Liechtenstein.

GMB operates a solar glass plant with a production capacity of 300tpd boosting BRL’s solar glass manufacturing capacity to 750tpd. This capacity of the combined entity will further increase to 1,300tpd with the commissioning of a new furnace with a capacity of 550tpd in India.

GlobalGlass from Switzerland is taking over the SFS Paraćin glassworks in Serbia to become a Steklarna Hrastnik sister company and will contribute significantly to the implementation of the Group’s strategic plans.

Luxury fashion house, BVLGARI, has chosen to partner with Stoelzle Masnieres Parfumerie to present ‘Le Gemme’ - a range of four luxury fragrances. The range of four fragrances; Rubina & Desiria - For Her, Tygar & Gyan - For Him were developed with a distinguished airline to further elevate the experience for their first-class passengers offering them bespoke scents on the go.

Visy has broken ground at the site of the $500 million glass recycling and manufacturing facility in Stapylton south of Brisbane. The factory, which represents the largest investment the company has ever made, will recycle up to 200,000 tonnes of Queensland’s glass annually to produce 1 billion bottles a year.

“Recycling is an important weapon against climate change and the technology employed in this factory will help enable Australia to go from an average of 30% recycled glass content in bottles to 70%, which is moving towards world's-best practice,” said Visy Executive Chairman Anthony Pratt, who was joined at the groundbreaking by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Dragon Slayer Gin was recognised as the winner in the category of Best Packaging of a New Product at the UK Packaging Awards 2022. The Dragon Slayer Distillery gin bottles are manufactured at Stoelzle Flaconnage in Knottingley, UK.

The bottle design and gin, which is created from locally sourced ingredients and medieval spa water, are rooted in the story of culture and heritage of dragon slayer folklore. The North East UK is full of folklore stories, songs and lore which go back often beyond record. The Dragon Slayer Distillery is located in Sockburn Hall, the home of Sir John Conyers, a famed dragon slayer.

Amber jars and bottles are mainly used for packaging medicine and light-sensitive food. To produce these jars, a brown colour carrier is mixed into the glass batch. Up to now, this mixture has been melted in a tank furnace heated with gas. A purely electrical heating of the tank is not yet feasible according to the current state of the art, especially with regard to the stability of the colour.

Owens Corning third-quarter 2022 results included a net sales increase of 14% to $2.5 billion providing an operating cash flow of $461 million. Composites net sales increased 8% to $638 million in the third-quarter compared with 2021, primarily due to higher selling prices and the favourable impact of customer mix partially offset by lower volumes. Insulation net sales increased 18% to $965 million compared with 2021.