The Board of Directors of the Vetropack Holding has nominated Urs Ryffel for election to the Board at the annual General Assembly on 25 April 2024: “Urs Ryffel draws on profound expertise in the management of international companies. As Urs Kauffmann will not be running for re-election in the spring at his own request, we consider ourselves fortunate to have found a candidate in Urs Ryffel who will complete the Board of Directors in this respect,” said Claude R. Cornaz, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

The 2023 winners of the Glass Focus Awards were announced at a black-tie event at the National Football Museum in Manchester. Ardagh Glass Packaging took home the British Glass Company of the year award along with the sustainable practice award for their NextGen Furnace. The other big winner was Encirc, taking home three awards on the night, including the innovative solution award for their digital bottle. Vitritech won the inaugural SME member of the year award, other winners on the night included Verallia UK, Beatson Clark, Guardian Industries UK and Saint-Gobain Glass.

Ciner Glass is establishing a state-of-the-art glass production facility at Kristalpark III in Lommel, Belgium. The investment of more than €600 million will lead to the creation of between 500 and 550 new jobs in the region. The construction of the factory is set to begin this month.

The first glass furnace is scheduled to become operational in 2025, followed by a second furnace in 2026. Once fully operational, the factory will have the capacity to produce 1,300tpd of lightweight containers with 75% recycled glass content. This groundbreaking investment represents a total financial commitment of 600 million euros, with a focus on ecology and sustainability.

Gerresheimer has celebrated the start of construction of the plant expansion at its facility in Querétaro, Mexico, with a ground-breaking ceremony. The new 7,500m² production building will increase the annual manufacturing capacity for “ready-to-fill” syringes for the North American market by several hundred million and create around 270 new jobs. Among other things, the high-quality pre-fillable glass syringes are suitable for injectable biopharmaceuticals such as GLP-1-based drugs for the treatment of obesity.

Gerresheimer is investing around €100 million in the new building and the new production lines. The building is expected to be completed by mid-2024 and production is anticipated to start in the second quarter of 2025.

Saint-Gobain Ecophon have announced a groundbreaking achievement in the journey towards redefining acoustic design and sustainability. The ReFAB project has reached a significant milestone by successfully testing 3D-shaped panels made from recycled glass wool. 

Ardagh Glass Packaging welcomed customers, suppliers, policy makers, industry partners and media to an official opening of its new NextGen furnace in Obernkirchen, Germany, to see some of the first amber bottles being produced from the low-carbon technology. The furnace started up as a conventional furnace using 20% renewable electricity and 80% gas and is now progressing through a planned start-up sequence in switching to a target of 80% renewable electricity and 20% gas over the coming months, to deliver maximum energy efficiency and decarbonisation.

Fu Xin from Hunan University of Technology in China has won the 2023 O-I : Expressions Student Design Award, run in conjunction with Pentawards. His design for ‘Forgotten River’ presents a strong Chinese cultural atmosphere, full of mystery, poetry and romance.

Glass is the ideal packaging material to emotionally connect with consumers. The brief challenged young designers to express something important to them, using the magic of glass packaging based on the shape of the Attenua bottle from O-I’s Contemporary Collection.

NSG Group has developed an adhesive for rubber reinforcement materials for its glass cord products that does not contain resorcinol and formaldehyde (RF), chemical substances of concern for environmental and human health. While restrictions on the use of hazardous substances are expanding within the supply chain that handles these products, the adhesive the company have just developed is based on proprietary technology and was developed based on the concept of a highly versatile, safe, and secure adhesive that can be used with rubber products for a variety of applications.

Ripple Glass is collaborating with building materials leader Owens Corning in recognition of America Recycles Day on Nov. 15, 2023. Ripple will host glass recycling events, swag giveaways and a social media campaign to support the collection programme, with bins in their bold purple colour. With the mantra “Give Glass a Second Life”, the company launched their expansion in Atlanta earlier this year and collects around 750kg of glass each week nationwide.

Owens Corning uses recycled glass and other natural ingredients in its PINK Next Gen Fiberglas insulation batts and rolls. They also feature a variety of insulation products for every application, from attic to basement, and a full line of roofing products at home centres nationwide.