SPAIN – Verallia, a manufacturer of glass packaging for beverages and food products, has announced an agreement to acquire Santaolalla Group’s cullet treatment centers.
The deal involves acquiring a total of five glass waste processing facilities for both industrial flat glass and hollow glass.
The acquisition of these cullet (recycled glass) treatment centers aligns with Verallia’s sustainability goals and commitment to increase the utilization of the cullet in its packaging.
As part of the transaction, Verallia has agreed to acquire three companies under Santaolalla, namely Ecosan Ambiental, Ecolabora, and Vidrologic.
The acquisition of Ecosan Ambiental will add four cullet treatment centers to Verallia’s portfolio. These centers are located in Quer, Guadalajara, Torrelavega in Santander, and two in Burgos, all in Spain.
Verallia is acquiring its fifth plant, a flat glass treatment center in Anadia, Portugal, from Vidrologic.
Finally, the acquisition of Ecolabora will allow Verallia to play a significant role in the logistics of glass collection for recycling.
Verallia Group CEO, Patrice Lucas, said, “As leaders in our industry, we must be the ones to drive transformation, going further and faster by promoting a circular economy.
“This acquisition and the investment we are doing all over Europe to increase our cullet capacity treatment is fully aligned with our ESG [environmental, social, and governance] roadmap.”
The latest deal will further allow Verallia to make progress toward achieving its carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction target of a 46% decrease in emissions by 2030, compared to 2019.
The five new cullet plants from Santaolalla will be added to Verallia’s existing four factories in the Iberian Peninsula, a mountainous region shared by Spain and Portugal.
Out of these four existing plants, Verallia commissioned two earlier this year.
Verallia Iberia general manager Paulo Pinto added: “At Verallia, we try to ensure that our activity contributes positively to the objective of our strategy, ‘Re-imagine glass for a sustainable future’, with a commitment to significantly reducing our CO₂ emissions in all our operations and improving the circularity of glass packaging.”
These acquisitions follow an investment the company made in May, injecting €60 million (US$67.8m) in its French production sites, according to the business and tech publication L’Usine Nouvelle. The move aims to enhance Verallia’s competitiveness and meet the evolving needs of its customers.
The investment will primarily focus on two key areas: modernizing existing production lines and implementing innovative technologies.
