Şişecam joins Glass Futures’ collaborative membership of international flat glass, hollow glass and fibre glass producers working alongside major brands, technology suppliers, associations, academia and leading users of glass towards the common goal of achieving sustainable and zero carbon glass production.
A signing ceremony was held at Şişecam’s headquarters on 13 February attended by Görkem Elverici, Şişecam CEO, Burak Büyükfırat, Şişecam’s ’s Chief Research and Technological Development Officer, Carl Spychal, Head of Economics and Prosperity at the British Consulate General in Istanbul, Pinar Celikcan, Head of Science and Innovation Network at the British Embassy in Ankara, Justin Kelly, Glass Futures’ CEO and Aston Fuller, Glass Futures’ General Manager, alongside other senior members of the Şişecam and Glass Futures management teams.
Görkem Elverici said, “We are proud to become a strategic member of Glass Futures. The collaborative technologies we will develop together will further enhance our environmentally friendly and sustainable production capabilities. These collective efforts will serve as a driving force in achieving our 2050 carbon-neutral commitment.”
In partnership with the worldwide glass industry, Glass Futures is delivering the Global Centre of Glass Excellence in St Helens, UK, the world’s first openly accessible, commercially available and unique glass melting facility for R&D, innovation and training. With capacity to produce the equivalent of 60,000 wine bottles and 4km of flat glass daily, the 15,000 square metre plant features trailblazing technology including an experimental 30 tonnes-per-day pilot furnace, cold end inspection, lehr and roll plate line and a revolutionary IS machine.
“As one of the world’s leading producers of glass packaging, flat glass and glassware, we look forward to welcoming Şişecam to Glass Futures’ industrial scale pilot plant where key industry stakeholders will experiment with alternative low carbon fuels,” enthused Justin Kelly, “Şişecam’s strategic membership provides a significant boost to the UK industry by means of overseas R&D investment, as well as advancing the common sustainability and decarbonisation goals of Glass Futures’ wider international membership.”
Ahead of the furnace going live in the spring of 2025, 24/7 activity at the Global Centre of Glass Excellence alongside extensive research projects and external trials with industrial partners is already enabling Glass Futures to lead the way with ground-breaking developments in fields such as biofuels, hydrogen, carbon capture, alternative raw materials and technologies around supporting and enabling circularity.