Welcome to the Glass Age

134 U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And because it’s made entirely of raw materials found in nature, glass cannot pollute the environment, now or ever. All of this makes glass the natural choice for preserving not only the quality of the product, but the health of the people who use it. In short, as an everyday packaging material, glass is natural, sustainable, and safe —crucial at a time when society is facing unprecedented uncertainty, fueled by global health and environmental crises, and when the health credentials of packaging are becoming more important to people than ever. Wellness and ‘zero waste’ lifestyle trends are also rapidly changing how we produce, purchase, consume and dispose of our everyday products. People are increasingly in search of a toxin-free circular economy, one that uses safe materials for food contact without losing sight of the need for recycling potential. Recycling should be part of achieving a circular economy, but never at the expense of health, and this is where glass is ready to shine. Backed by industry initiatives for a better future Glass already has strong environmental credentials in a circular economy and consumers are increasingly recognizing that, but that doesn’t mean we’re resting the Future is to cut direct furnace CO 2 emissions by 60%, as gas is replaced with renewable electric alternatives with a low carbon footprint. We already know that electric melting works, but we’re currently limited to small-scale furnaces that can only handle clear glass with limited recycled content. Put simply, that’s not going to cut it if we want to produce sustainably at scale. Enter the Furnace for the Future, set to enable larger furnaces to process all colored glass at the same time as using high amounts of recycled product. Each ton of glass recycled can save 580 kg of CO 2 —both cutting emissions and reducing landfill waste. Europe alone produces an estimated 35.85 million tons of glass each year, so imagine what that could add up to in energy savings over time, if we replace every ageing furnace with a climate neutral alternative? The furnace is the first of its kind in the world and represents the joint efforts of 19 companies (together, representing 90% of production in Europe) who have joined forces to finance the F4F for the benefit of the whole European container glass sector. The first F4F is set to be built in Germany, while the know-how from this initial pilot will be shared across the whole sector —sending a strong signal of the industry’s collective commitment to improve society. A more detailed discussion on this furnace is presented in Chapter 7. on our laurels. The industry is working to make glass production even more sustainable and taking rapid strides to become carbon neutral and maximize our use of recycled content. We’re committed to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and by driving forward the transition to a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy, we’ll be able to ensure that glass manufacturing can continue to thrive sustainably in the long run. Glass is healthy, reusable and infinitely recyclable, “it the hidden gem in a carbon neutral future”, as stated by Nature —the international journal of science [6]. By addressing our biggest problem —the CO 2 footprint produced by an energy-intensive industry —the glass industry can offer a future-proof packaging that is healthy, circular and climate-neutral— one that can sustainably meet growing consumer demand. That’s the rationale behind the Furnace for the Future (F4F, for short) [7] a pilot furnace project designed to reduce carbon emissions by up to 60%. The Furnace for the Future project underpins the industry’s ambition for climate neutrality and offers a clear pathway to decarbonize an energy- intensive process. At present, 80% of production emissions in the glass industry come from combusting natural gas to melt glass. Our aim with the Furnace for