Work on Belgium glass production site to begin this year

Construction on a container glass manufacturing facility in Belgium will start later this year.

Ciner Glass confirmed that work on its plant in Lommel, Belgium will begin by the end of this year.

The site will create approximately 500 jobs with bottle supply expected to begin in 2025.

The Turkish glass producer said it will invest in the latest manufacturing technology at the site.

It said: “The facility will be equipped with two unique, innovative end-fired melting furnaces that are significantly less energy intensive and therefore emit less CO2.

“Additional investment in residual heat boilers to help recover energy for heating, as well as the use of renewable solar and wind energy on-site, will further reduce the plant’s carbon footprint.”

Another sustainability ambition is to reduce the weight of its glass bottles by 10% – from 200g to 180g for a standard bottle – while maintaining the same strength and other properties required for the food and beverage industry.

The lighter bottles will reduce Ciner Glass’ emissions, as well as its customers, and save more than 40,000 tons of glass per year.

In Turkey, it has also invested in work to implement green hydrogen into the glass production facility process.

“We are currently looking to generate three megawatts of hydrogen energy this year, enough to power ten hydrogen trucks at the Park Cam site, which will only continue to increase at scale and be implemented across our European sites.”