SORG is very proud to begin construction of the first SORG CLEAN Melter at Ardagh Glass Packaging’s facility in Obernkirchen, Germany. To be known as Ardagh’s NextGen Furnace, this will be the first hybrid furnace with a melting energy share of up to 80% electricity and 20% gas. The furnace will produce up to 350tpd of amber glass bottles with a high level of cullet.

The CLEAN Melter is based on intensive mathematical modelling, applying and combining established SORG technologies and components, such as the refining shelf, separation wall, gas and oxygen combustion and electrical heating system.

A group of researchers from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Japan) and Sumitomo Electric Industries in collaboration with the Eindhoven University of Technology, University of L’Aquila, and Macquarie University has developed a 19-core optical fibre with a standard cladding diameter (0.125mm), which has the largest number of cores among the standard cladding diameter multi-core fibres, and has demonstrated large-capacity transmission at a data-rate of 1.7 petabits per second over a distance of 63.5km. A randomly coupled multi-core fibre design was used to achieve high core density, as well as a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) digital signal processing to eliminate inter-core signal interference.

After a stop of just over a year, production of glass packaging is starting up again at Vetropack’s Ukrainian site PrJSC Gostomel near Kyiv. From 25 May, the first melting furnace was brought up to temperature and filled, with the first new glass likely to be produced in June. "For now, we are very happy to be able to resume production," says Pavel Prinko, General Manager of Ukraine and Republic of Moldova Business Unit.

LG Electronics (LG) has been using its antimicrobial glass powder in several different home appliance lineups, including cookers, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners. Helping to make product usage more hygienic, the company’s antimicrobial glass powder is employed in the manufacturing of plastic parts that come into frequent contact with human skin.

Ardagh Glass Packaging - UK is building a sustainable ’Efficient Furnace’ that will minimise greenhouse gas emissions from the glass production process at the Doncaster, UK facility. The latest industrial technology is employed to provide a more efficient melter with significantly reduced gas consumption and carbon emissions. It also contains an additional gas filtration process, using advanced filter technology to combat other emissions elements and reduce them to levels substantially below current industrial standards.

The project is part-funded with a grant from the UK Government’s Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which supports businesses with high energy use to transition to a low carbon future.

UPM Biochemicals and URSA have developed a more environmentally friendly building insulation that will help to reduce energy consumption and lower CO2 emissions. The glass mineral wool will use an innovative binder based on UPM BioPiva lignin.

Synthetic resins from fossil-based raw materials have traditionally been used as binders in the production of glass mineral wool. The new binder implemented by URSA is based on the proprietary lignin-resin technology developed by UPM Biochemicals. The two companies have closely collaborated on optimizing binder composition for best physical characteristics of the new insulation material and smooth runnability on production lines.

Saint-Gobain India and Vibrant Energy have entered a long-term Power Purchase Agreement to deliver round-the-clock wind–solar hybrid energy to Saint-Gobain’s facilities in India. As a part of the Agreement, Vibrant, a portfolio company of Macquarie Asset Management's Green Investment Group, will set up a 75MWac/100MWdc Interstate Transmission System connected wind­–solar hybrid project in Madhya Pradesh. With the addition of this project, Saint-Gobain will achieve a renewable energy footprint of 65% across its facilities in India by the end of 2025.

After a construction period of one and a half years, glass manufacturer Vetropack has begun the process of heating up the two melting furnaces at the new Boffalora sopra Ticino plant in Italy. The furnaces will be gradually brought up to temperature and filled over the course of several days in preparation for the start of production. Upon its official inauguration in October 2023, Vetropack’s new high-tech plant will be producing up to 70% more glass than the previous plant, while maintaining maximum flexibility and sustainability.

The Glass Recycling Foundation (GRF) is making efforts to increase glass recycling in the US, providing grants that increase glass recycling by upgrading equipment for cleaning recycled glass, offering collection containers for glass drop-offs, supporting pilot projects, developing resident education, and other glass recovery related projects.

The GRF 2022 impact report highlighting nearly $200,000 in grants that supported projects diverting almost 600 tons of glass from landfills. The grants were made possible by donations from Anheuser-Busch Foundation, Corona, the Glass Packaging Institute and Diageo.