German Economics Minister visits Ardagh’s NextGen glass furnace

Ardagh Glass Packaging’s Obernkirchen facility hosted Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection earlier today (Thursday).

Robert Habeck visited the plant where he inspected the NextGen Furnace built with federal funding.

The new hybrid technology currently achieves a reduction in CO2 emissions of 64% and is therefore a milestone for the decarbonisation of the glass industry.

Container glass manufacturer Ardagh Glass Packaging also used the Federal Minister of Economics' visit to make an urgent appeal to politicians.

Jens Schaefer, Managing Director of Ardagh Glass Packaging, said. "With our NextGen Furnace, we have taken the first step and shown our willingness and ability to take new paths to decarbonization.

"Now it's up to politicians: In order to exploit the full potential of new technologies, the necessary infrastructure is needed in Germany.

"Because as an energy-intensive industry, we depend on the reliable availability of sufficient green electricity at marketable prices."

With a turnover of around €2 billion, the container glass industry is an important economic factor for Germany.

At full capacity, the NextGen furnace produces up to 350 tons of container glass per day - mainly brown glass, although other colours are possible.

The NextGen Furnace was designed and built in cooperation with the furnace supplier Sorg.

The melting furnace, which is the first of its kind in the world with its innovative hybrid technology, already achieves a reduction in CO2 emissions of 64% percent - and this with an identical proportion of waste glass cullet of up to 70% compared to conventional container glass production.

This is made possible by the electrification of the melting furnace, which is currently operated with 60% renewable electricity and 40% gas.

In the first few months of 2024, Ardagh Glass Packaging was saved around 18,000 tons of CO2 in production in Obernkirchen.

The construction of the NextGen Furnace in Obernkirchen is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) with a total of around €12.4 million from the Decarbonisation of Industry programme.