Visy unveils US$99M eco-friendly glass furnace in Sydney

AUSTRALIA – Packaging and recycling company Visy has commissioned a new A$150 million (US$99.34m) sustainable glass furnace at its facility in Sydney, Australia.

The furnace was officially opened yesterday (18 July) by New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns and Visy chair Anthony Pratt.

Touted as Australia’s most energy-efficient glass furnace, it uses oxygen-only fuel, reducing energy consumption by more than half compared to its predecessor.

“That’s the equivalent of saving enough energy to heat over 32,000 Sydney homes yearly,” Pratt highlighted.

Located at the Penrith site, the only glass bottle and jar manufacturing factory in NSW, the furnace produces over 800 million glass containers annually.

It caters to prominent food and beverage companies in the country, including Vegemite, Cottee’s Jam, Toohey’s New, and Bundaberg Ginger Beer.

The facility’s adoption of advanced recycled cullet preheating technology will also enhance the use of recycled glass in the country’s glass bottle manufacturing sector.

Pratt stated, “This new technology is part of our program to make glass containers with an average of 70% recycled content across Australia and New Zealand.”

The factory processes recycled glass collected from household bins and the Return and Earn container deposit scheme to produce new bottles and jars.

This investment aligns with Pratt’s 2021 pledge to invest A$2 billion over the following decade to reduce landfill, combat climate change, and sustain thousands of green-collar jobs in Australia.

“At Visy, we’re not just manufacturers – we’re in the landfill-avoidance business because recycling is an important weapon against climate change. We’re investing in low-energy technology, high-paying, green-collar jobs, and boosting Australia’s manufacturing capability,” Pratt added.

Recently, Visy launched recyclable paper bags made domestically in Australia, supporting a circular economy.

These bags are made of thicker paper using recycled content and are recyclable through kerbside bins. They also have Forestry Stewardship Council certification, ensuring environmental reliability.

Visy processes 40% of Australia’s kerbside recycling bins in partnership with councils nationwide.

The company specializes in providing integrated solutions across logistics, packaging, and retail sectors, aiming to offer packaging that is recyclable, reusable, and incorporates higher levels of recycled materials.

The demand for sustainable packaging is expected to be strong in Australia as consumers are increasingly conscious of the environmental impacts and sustainability of the products and services they purchase.

This is substantiated by a GlobalData consumer survey, which revealed that 69% of Australian respondents feel that factors such as recyclability and sustainability considerably impact their buying decisions.

An increasing number of companies are expected to adopt sustainable and recyclable packaging in the foreseeable future due to rising consumer concerns about the environment, recyclability, and sustainability.

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