The All India Glass Manufacturers' Federation (AIGMF) is accepting entries for the fifth AIGMF Awards for outstanding achievement to the Indian glass industry, supported by Glass Worldwide.

The C K Somany Award for Innovation and Technology will recognise an individual who has made significant contributions to the glass industry in the field or fields of manufacturing, product development, environmental factors, business performance/growth, research and development and/or science and technology.

Separately, the Balkrishna Gupta Award for Exports will be given to an individual/company who has contributed to the identification or growth of glass exports.

Ardagh Group and Buske Logistics have partnered with Shoppa’s Material Handling to convert its current fleet of propane vehicles to electric vehicles at its distribution centre in Fairfield, California.

Converting the fleet of forklifts and other vehicles to electric will save approximately 30,000 gallons of liquid propane and prevent 60,000 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year.

For the designers of Knightsbridge Gate, a landmark mixed-use development that occupies an entire block of the street, providing the best possible shopfronts for the retailers that will occupy the scheme’s ground floor was a top priority.

While most of the building has been newly constructed, the 120m long Edwardian street-facing façade has been retained, along with its 17 glazed shopfronts.

The glazing for each of the frontages is held in place by decorative oak frames that have been carefully re-created according to the original design.

To ensure that the units look their best, the designer selected Pilkington OptiView Protect OW anti-reflective glass for the street-level glazing.

The Gerresheimer traceability concept ensures complete transparency throughout the value chain and greater safety for the patient, because only complete traceability is true traceability.

As the first link in the manufacturing chain, the company applies unique codes to its primary packaging and medical devices.

Thanks to the digital infrastructure for traceability, all downstream parties can link, analyse and share any data with the individual product unit.

The codes are the key to connecting previously separate worlds in the value chain.

They mark the start of a new era of interconnectedness that promises complete transparency and security for customers and patients.

Ardagh Group has announced the location of its first glass production facility in Brazil will be at Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais.

The state-of-the-art facility will supply sustainable glass packaging to leading customers in the growing Brazilian market.

Production is expected to commence in the first half of 2024 and, when operational, the facility will provide approximately 300 high-quality jobs.

The new glass production facility will be co-located in Juiz de Fora with a new multi-line beverage can manufacturing facility being built by Ardagh Metal Packaging, Ardagh’s 75%-owned subsidiary.

The full programme has been announced for the Furnace Solutions conference to take place on 8-9 June 2022 at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens, UK.

On behalf of the Melting Technical Committee of the event organisers the Society of Glass Technology, Nigel Longshaw said: “I think we are all looking forward to meeting in person once again after three years’ apart. This year we have strong papers focusing on the decarbonisation of the glass industry, with first time speakers and delegates coming from the UK, Europe and the USA”.

Highlights include presentations from melting experts representing BOC, CelSian, Electroglass, Emisshield, Encirc, FIC, Glass Futures, GTS, NSG, Simpson Combustion and Stara Glass.

The European Close the Glass Loop Platform will celebrate its second anniversary with an annual online event, scheduled for 30 June.

The event will also mark the International Year of Glass, as it will focus on the global dimension of glass collection and recycling.

The keynote speaker, Dr. Janez Potočnik, Co-Chair of the UNEP Resource Panel, will open the event with a conversation on global circular economy.

The programme includes case studies on glass collection and recycling from Kosovo, Kenya and Guatemala, as well as virtual booths of Close the Glass Loop partners from 11 European countries, showcasing their activities.

The Platform will also reveal the 2020 figures of glass collection for recycling in Europe.

The NSG Group 1.4 MW photovoltaic solar array at its Rossford, Ohio facility is fully operational and will supply about 2.5 GWh of renewable energy annually.

The new array, owned and operated by AEP OnSite Partners, a subsidiary of American Electric Power, will provide energy to the facility for the next 20+ years under a power purchase agreement.

"This solar project adds to our portfolio of solar and energy savings projects across the globe and is part of the NSG Group's commitment to reducing carbon emissions by at least 30% by 2030," said Greg Chastain, NSG Group's Regional Sustainability Director, North America.

Close the Glass Loop has welcomed the launch of Vidro+, a milestone towards the acceleration of glass collection and recycling in Portugal.

Promoted and coordinated by the Smart Waste Portugal Association, the collaborative initiative brings together the glass packaging value chain as well as government entities, universities and research centres, associations and non-governmental organizations.

Together they will develop and implement tailored solutions for glass collection which work in the Portuguese context and contribute to the ambitious target of collecting 90% of all glass packaging placed on the EU market by 2030.