Glass Alliance Europe, the newly formaed alliance made up of national glass associations and sectors, will work on climate change and sustainability issues. The alliance has a shared belief: the glass products needed for a low carbon, resource efficient and sustainable European future should be produced in Europe.
Yesterday, national glass associations and sectors join forces to create a new alliance to work on climate change and sustainability issues. “Glass is a substance that has no other match and the potential is huge. Glass is essential to meeting a brighter future because it has endless applications,” said Paolo Giacobbo, President of Glass Alliance Europe and representing Assovetro, the Italian National Glass Association, a founding member. “Today’s launch sees the glass industries in Europe coming together to work on sustainability issues and share resources to ensure glass continues to meet its potential.”
Glass is all around us at every moment of our lives and in each different way, glass makes a big contribution to fighting climate change. Glass is one essential element to enable Europe’s low carbon economy thanks to energy saving applications such as insulating glass or reinforcement glass fiber composites to lighten vehicles and enable the use of wind rotor blades.
Glass contributes to resource efficient societies by recycling 68% of all its glass jars and bottles in the EU. In this way the glass packaging sector helps reduce the amount of virgin raw materials, the energy needed to melt glass and CO2 emissions as well as ensuring that this waste is diverted from landfill and does not end up polluting natural environments.
Glass is also essential to many new technologies, such as touch screen technologies enabling smart phones, and is the base for jewellery and architecture, while homes are full of decorative glass tableware.
“Sustainability is the main objective driving industries today and industries need to work across value chains and across sectors – not in silos. Today the industry joins its sister sectors and national associations to work together and to share ideas on sustainability in this new Glass Alliance Europe and in doing so strengthens our ability to act together on climate change issues,” said Niall Wall President of FEVE, the Container Glass Association and founding member of the new alliance.
The alliance has a shared belief: The glass products needed for a low carbon, resource efficient and sustainable European future should be produced in Europe. The EU should nurture such industries to produce sustainably, with the help of policies guided by strong reasonable environmental goals.
In the coming months, Glass Alliance Europe will elaborate on this message to highlight the positive contributions of glass industries to the future of Europe.
Glass Alliance Europe is the European Alliance of Glass Industries. It is composed of 13 national glass associations and of the main sectors of the glass industries: container glass, flat glass, special glass, domestic glass and continuous filament glass fibres. Throughout the EU, glassmakers employ around 200,000 people in 1,200 companies ranging from SMEs to large multinationals.
Glass industries invest in research, develop and manufacture glass products fit for a sustainable, resource-efficient and low-carbon society such as energy-efficient windows, fully recyclable bottles and jars, weight-lightening continuous glass fibers, glass for photovoltaic modules, etc. Glass industries continuously invest in upgrading manufacturing installations to minimize the carbon content of products and increase their recycling.