BA Glass in €58 million Romanian furnace investment

Portuguese multinational BA Glass is to invest €58 million in a furnace at its Bucharest, Romania production facility.

The investment marks the beginning of a new investment cycle in Romania and will also include a 55m² warehouse at the site.

The new investments will expand the company's production capabilities, as well as create job opportunities in Southeastern Europe.

BA Glass CEO Sandra Santos said the investment should be completed in the last quarter of this year.

The new furnace will be equipped with the latest technology, providing production process consistency and top-quality products.

It will create new jobs by combining the operation of new technologies with digitalisation and automation.

This will not only benefit the production process, but also employees, as they will be able to work in a more efficient way and with better working conditions.

BA Glass is also investing in a project to build a new furnace in Romania that will be ready in 2025.

Together, these investments will enable BA Glass to double its production capacity in the country in the next three years.

The company acquired the Bucharest facility six years ago.

Sustainability

BA Glass said the investments strengthened its commitment to the environment, particularly in terms of reducing CO2 emissions.

It was a founding member of The Porto Protocol in 2018, an international non-profit institution, with hundreds of other members committed to make a greater contribution to mitigate climate change.

Through Porto Protocol, BA Glass made public its commitment to reduce its environmental impact by reducing its carbon footprint to the European target levels, reducing water consumption, increasing the use of renewable energies, among others.

By 2022, the investments in the use of renewable energies and the implementation of photovoltaic panels in several sites ensure that 100% of electricity consumption is sourced from renewable energy sources which represents a reduction of 5% of the CO2 emissions compared to the previous year.

BA Glass was given the highest score “A” by CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), an international non-profit organisation that evaluates the actions of more than 15,000 companies, to reduce their environmental impact throughout their value chains.

BA Glass was the only company from glass containers packaging industry that achieved the highest score within the leadership band.

The group was also recognized by World Finance Magazine as the most sustainable company in the glass industry for the third year in a row.

The BA Glass group is involved in several projects that aim to make glass the most sustainable and healthy packaging material on the planet.

This will mean investment in R&D to find new solutions for non-carbon-based raw materials, new renewable energy sources and melting technology baes in zero emissions, as well as the increase of usage of post consumed recycled glass in the furnaces, as a way to reduce the waste, the raw materials and the CO2 emissions needed to produce glass.