Allied Glass is always striving to be at the forefront of sustainable glass packaging manufacturing. The company is continually reviewing its own sustainable goals and strategies to keep the company at the top of its game.
With the glass industry commitments of a 90 percent collection rate by 2030, glass is striving towards becoming the perfect circular material. The reason glass is the ideal material to use for packaging is twofold:
- It keeps food and beverages that are packaged in glass fresh and offers health benefits not possible utilising other packaging types.
- It is also infinitely recyclable in all forms and colours, and there are no limits to how many times it can be collected, re-melted and made into new glass containers, all whilst maintaining its original properties.
Decarbonisation is at the heart of many businesses’ plans for a sustainable future. The glass industry is already well on the way with an understanding of decarbonisation and what action needs to be taken to improve this. Key components of the industry’s decarbonisation strategy are increasing glass recycling rates and the adoption of innovative furnace technology using renewable energy sources.
The Allied Difference
A tonne of raw materials being placed with a tonne of recycled glass removes 30 percent of the energy needed and an even higher percentage reduction in the amount of carbon emitted from the melting processes. When a tonne of glass is made from recycled glass instead of virgin raw materials, the energy required to produce that glass is reduced by 30 percent, and the associated carbon emissions are reduced by an even greater percentage.
At Allied Glass, any rejected or broken glass is sent back to the beginning of the process to be recycled, so that it’s possible to maintain a zero-waste system from a glass perspective.
Allied produces a broad range of coloured glasses including bespoke colours for customer’s key brands. The company has developed and refined a unique process in which to recycle all coloured glass. By understanding the chemistry of coloured glass, it’s possible to recycle all glass waste into new containers, as well as recycling a mix of coloured glass to produce new colours.
Fantastic Future Goals
Towards the end of 2020, into 2021 Allied published its sustainability targets for 2025, with a focus on six sustainability pillars:
- Circular Economy
- Resource Efficiency
- Carbon
- Supply Chain
- Health & Well-being
People & Communities
This was the first time Allied externally communicated these goals. These targets were, as ever, ambitious, and therefore the company felt it imperative to share them with the community and customers.
Amongst other goals, Allied is dedicated to achieve:
- 20 percent reduction in carbon
- 20 percent reduction in energy
- 50 percent reduction in water consumption
In order to achieve these goals the company is planning significant changes before 2025, which will be supported by significant investment.
The Sustainability Team
Allied Glass truly value its team members and their opinion, and strongly believes that sustainable innovations come through collaboration. That is why Allied is introducing a Sustainability Steering Group into its workforce.
This is a team which Allied will look to fill through volunteers. The group will come together on a regular basis (every 6-8 weeks) to provide an opportunity for idea brainstorming and contributing to the implementation of these ideas. Allied Glass is looking forward to see what insight is gained from the new committee.
If you are interested in developing a more eco-conscious bottle, get in contact with Allied Glass.