Page 66 - Glass Machinery Plants & Accessories no. 2-2020

FURNACE DEVELOPMENTS
Furnace developments
nificant financial and human
resources and a wide range of
expertise. For this reason, the
industry has committed to work
together. By adopting a secto-
ral approach, it also intends to
gain the support of the European
Commission through the ETS
Finance for Innovation Fund
Programme. Despite its key
importance, this project is not
the only one the industry is work- carbon emission energy sources.
ing on. Other pathways towards
clean production technologies
and climate-neutral glass packag- tion of the Circular Economy in
ing are already implemented and
others are also being explored.
64 glass machinery plants & accessories 2/2020
years, achieving a collection for
recycling rate of 76 per cent.
At the same time, the indus-
try continues to invest in recy-
cling, research and innovation
to improve existing technolo-
gies and explore other solutions
such as biomass and hydrogen.
Thanks to combined technolo-
gies, it has decoupled production
from CO2 emissions.
Glass is, today, already 30
per cent lighter, 70 per cent less
energy-intensive and emits 50
per cent less CO2 than 50 years
ago, while 9 million tonnes of
CO2 are saved per year through
endlessly recycling of glass bot-
tles and jars into new production.
At the same time, as a pro-
duction industry, it is com-
mitted to enabling the transi-
tion to a resource efficient and
low-carbon economy, in line
with the UN 2030 Sustainable
Development Goals. This is a
business and political imperative,
providing the best answer to mar-
ket demand, as well as respond-
ing to recent recommendations
on the European Industrial
Strategy and the Circular
Economy Action Plan. That’s
why the glass industry is con-
tinually investing in switching
to more environmentally-friendly
sources of energy – from wood,
to coal, to natural gas, and now
to a hybrid furnace. Q
THE INDUSTRY’S VISION
With climate change set to be
one of our planet’s greatest chal-
lenges, we all have a role to play
in cutting CO2 emissions. The
glass industry’s vision is to make
glass production climate neu-
tral. This is taking place there
through continuous decarbonisa-
tion of production process, and FEVE
by maximising the use of low-
Avenue Louise 89, Bte 4
The glass packaging industry B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
Tel: +32/ 2 536 0080
is a leader in the implementa- Fax: +32/ 2 539 3752
E-mail: Secretariat@feve.org
Europe, and has been collect- feve.org
ing glass packaging for over 40