Reusable, recyclable, safe and better than others for contact with food, glass is undisputed protagonist of the circular economy. Progress in environmental, economic and social terms of Italian productions are described in the first Sustainability Report, presented in Rome on 18.2.10 by Assovetro.
Production and investments grow
The Report, prepared by Ergo, spin-off of the Sant’Anna University of Pisa, summarizes the performance of 18 Italian industries in the 2016-2018 three-year period. 15 hollow glass producers (bottles, jars, etc.) and 3 flat glass producers, representing about 90% of industrial plants in Italy.
Italy – with 5 million tons of glass produced in 2018 – provides one seventh of the entire European production. Second in hollow glass, after Spain, since 2014. With a production capacity still growing.
In 2018 production increased up to 4.4 million tons of glass (+8.2%), in line with turnover (+6%). Investments in technology and innovation rose sharply, 298 million euros (+44.2%) for plant upgrades and 33 million (+5.6%) for research and development with impact on environment and safety.
‘With this first Report we want to tell about our activities starting from production processes that all have their pulsating heart in glass fusion. Particular emphasis is given to the environmental aspects of our activities. Circularity, above all, is perceived as fundamentally important for the contribution, both environmental and economic, that glass is able to guarantee' (Graziano Marcovecchio, president of Assovetro).
Environmental sustainability
Energy consumption is the key element in assessing the environmental impact of an energy-intensive sector such as glass production. In addition to representing one of the main cost items (15.3% in 2018).
It highlights therefore, in terms of increasing the environmental sustainability of productions, the virtuous trend of energy consumption in the three-year period evaluated:
– the share of renewable energy increased by ten points in two years, from 15.37% (2016) to 26.20% (2018),
– CO2 emissions (which derive from the high-temperature melting process), -70% compared to 40 years ago, have remained stable following the last significant reduction (2016),
– the increase in production has allowed maintaining an unchanged energy performance (0.17 TOE/ton of molten glass).
Water consumption as well – substantial for glass washing and plant cooling – has decreased, thanks to the adoption of closed-cycle systems aimed at reducing losses and reusing cooling and cleaning waters. The current average requirement is 1.98 m3 per ton of molten glass, with recycled water use exceeding 44% of total water consumption.
'Attention to environmental and food safety have significantly increased the appeal of glass. Glass containers are universally perceived as a guarantee of safety and year after year the market demands more and more of them. One figure says it all: in the first 9 months of 2019, the production of bottles alone increased by 5.4% compared to the same period in 2018. Today Italy is the second country in Europe for the quantity of containers produced, after Spain,’ (Marco Ravasi, president of the glass container sector, Assovetro).
Champion of circular economy
The performance in recovery and recycling of scraps confirm glass as a champion of circular economy. Thanks to the separate collection system, glass can indeed be recovered and reintroduced infinitely many times into the production cycle, with tangible advantages. The use of glass scrap in the vitrifiable mixture (51% of materials consumed in 2018) allows for two forms of energy saving:
– direct, thanks to the reduction of the melting temperature and thus energy consumption,
– indirect, due to the reduction of raw materials with high energy content.
The collection rate has increased fivefold (+8.4%), compared to packaging placed on the market (+1.7%). And the quality of the collection has improved, allowing in 2018 to reach a recycling rate (76.3%) that exceeds the targets set in Europe for 2030 (75%).
Further elements pro-circularity of glass are the reduction of process waste (10.7 kg/ton of melted glass, -7.7% at the end of the three-year period) and the high efficiency in the use of natural resources:
– 1.11 tons of virgin raw material (sand and soda) are required to produce 1 ton of melted glass, and even
– the ratio between raw materials and products is 1:1, when using glass cullet.
‘The economy of the future will be circular or will not be. We must produce with recycled materials’ (Leonardo Becchetti, economist, Tor Vergata University of Rome)
Social sustainability
On the front of social sustainability, the sector is characterized by a high share of permanent workers. The work environment is traditionally male, but efforts have been made to reduce the gender gap. Currently, women represent 24.2% of employees and 19.5% of managers and executives.
The workers of the companies covered by the Report increased by 1.4% over the three-year period under review, for a total of 11,277 employees. Almost 90% of workers have a permanent contract, and among these, 97% are covered by supplementary contracts providing for the payment of collective variable bonuses.
Training, essential for worker safety and production quality, is subject to targeted investments. In the 2016-18 three-year period, an average of 14.3 hours of training per capita were provided annually, peaking at 16.5 hours in 2017.
Professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and magazines (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). Author of investigative reports on food, she published the book 'Reading Labels to Know What We Eat'.
