The packaging in glass continues to improve the performance of market and sustainability. Despite the high energy costs and stress on raw materials, the Italian industry is increasing production capacity and investing in the environment. This is reported by Assovetro, in the preview of the Sustainability Report presented in Rome on 12.4.22. (1)
The virtues of packaging in glass
The packaging glass represents excellence for packaging food and beverages. It does not release harmful substances to the contained food, unlike plastic, as recently seen with recycled PET. Nor does it disperse polluting particles into the environment, as happens with microplastics, which accumulate in the human body through diet and inhalation, reaching the lungs.
Glass is also infinitely recyclable. And it displays the content with an unrivaled aesthetic compared to other food packaging materials. The only drawback is the weight, which has been significantly reduced by the industry in recent decades.
Italy first European producer
Italy is the leading producer in Europe of packaging in glass. The national industry – 14 companies with 39 plants, 7,800 employees and a turnover of 2.4 billion euros – dominates the ranking with a production value share of 21.3%. Following are France (18%), Germany (17.6%), Spain and Poland, both with 8%.
The forecasts 2020-2024 of the Italian glass industry show a trend of growth. Expected are
– 500 new jobs,
– another 5 melting furnaces, with an investment of 400 million euros and an increase in production of 500 thousand tons of glass packaging per year,
– investments of 250 million euros per year in plants and machinery.
‘The sector, although under strong pressure due to the rising cost of raw materials, transport, and energy, is committed to providing bottles and jars to producers of Italian agri-food excellences and, for this reason, we have confirmed investments in expanding production capacity and designing new ovens‘, says Marco Ravasi, president of the hollow glass section of Assovetro, the National Association of Glass Industrialists affiliated with Confindustria.
trend positive even during the crisis
The production withstood during the years of crisis. Bottles alone, carriers of sought-after wines Made in Italy, in the first 9 months of 2021 reached 3 million tons (+6%) compared to 2020 and, to meet the growing demand for bottles, there was a 20% increase inimport.
Declining, on the other hand, in the first 9 months of 2021 the production of food jars decreased by 6.6%, after constant growth in the previous 5 years. In 2016, about 4 million tons of packaging in glass, in 2020 it reached more than 4.4 million tons.
The performance environmental
Also the performance environmental and social have made progress: CO2 emissions per ton of molten glass show a steady decrease and, between 2016 and 2020, fell by 6.2%, and by 50% in the last 40 years.
Between 2019 and 2020 the glass-environment ‘synergies’ have positive results: separate waste collection increased by 2.6% and recycling by 3.6%, and the recycling rate increased from 77.3% to 78.6% between 2019 and 2020, above the target European 75% by 2030, while committing to reach 90% by 2030.
The social sustainability of Italian glass
The glass industry is also characterized by high social sustainability. At the end of 2020, Italian hollow and flat glass companies employed a total of 11,738 employees, with a 3.9% increase compared to 2016.
93.6% of workers he is hired with permanent contracts and the percentage rises to 96.7% if considering the workforce directly contracted by the glassworks, net of workers employed with supply contracts.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) The Sustainability Report of Assovetro involved 19 companies, 15 producers of hollow glass and 4 of flat glass, representing a total of 90% of the industrial presence in Italy.
Professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and magazines (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). Author of journalistic investigations on food, she published the volume 'Reading labels to know what we eat'.
