Verallia Group and Mahou San Miguel steam ahead with game-changing technology to take on carbon emissions
Will a common industry vision for a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy make packaging food, drink, cosmetics and other everyday products more sustainable? The recent partnership between Verallia and leading Spanish beer brand Mahou San Miguel is proof that this is a resounding ‘yes’ for brands, retailers and manufacturers alike and shows the importance behind the glass industry’s Furnaces for the Future vision.
The road to net carbon neutrality is paved with innovative solutions.
We all rely on glass, and collaboration on innovative solutions is needed to make glass packaging and the products inside as green as possible. We’re committed to achieving climate neutrality for glass packaging, and this starts by addressing carbon emissions during production by investing in existing and new energy efficiency technologies.
One example? Thermal energy recovery systems. In short, heat is released during the glass manufacturing process; thermal energy recovery systems collect this excess heat and convert it into power. Seeing the potential of this cutting-edge technology, Verallia Group and leading Spanish brewer Mahou have joined forces to expand the use of clean energy in production and improve the sustainability profile of their plants. The two companies’ energy efficiency project in Burgos, Spain uses untapped heat from glass production at Verallia’s plant to generate steam at Mahou’s brewery.
What’s in it for the companies? To date, Verallia has reduced residual energy temperature of its glass melting process by 40% to save 175 tonnes of CO2 per year by using steam. Mahou has been able to cut back on natural gas consumption by more than 60%, resulting in an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 4,950 tonnes. And these are not the only milestones…
Verallia and Mahou San Miguel partnership brings the gold in the energy consumption category of the Retina ECO Awards 2022
The partnership recently topped the podium in the Energy Consumption category at the Retina ECO Awards 2022, with judges recognising that the collaboration between the two production sites helped both the companies to improve their own environmental standards and their home city of Burgos to conserve resources.
Verallia Group knows that sole industry efforts are not enough. The company stands behind the European glass industry’s vision of ‘Furnaces for the Future’, which aims to produce glass fit for a circular and a carbon-neutral economy. With the International Year of Glass now recognising the historical, technological, and environmental contributions of glass to our society, it is more important than ever to draw attention to the shared vision of the European glass industry, which is to transition to a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy and offer future-proof packaging that is healthy, recyclable and carbon neutral.
Making sustainable manufacturing a standard for future generations
Current and forthcoming climate regulations on decarbonisation will change today’s energy landscape. Operating ‘greener’ plants will enable manufacturers to meet national and global fossil fuel reduction targets and achieve better energy efficiency in production.
Verallia Group and Mahou San Miguel’s investments in low-carbon technologies are laying the foundation for more sustainable manufacturing practises and inviting more companies to hit the reset button and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. The European glass industry has always had an appetite for investing in sustainable technologies. From Italy’s hydrogen-powered Divina pilot to Gerresheimer’s hybrid furnace in Germany, green innovations are scaling up in Europe.
The advantages of the thermal energy recovery system are clear: it increases energy efficiency, lowers costs, saves resources, and reduces CO2 emissions. As the world continues to strive to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the European glass industry will continue to innovate and offer sustainable packaging options to the brands and retailers that work with us, and the consumers who in turn rely on them.
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ABOUT VERALLIA GROUP: Verallia is a European leader and the world’s third largest producer of glass packaging for beverages and food products. The company wants to redefine the way glass is manufactured, reused and recycled, to make it the most sustainable packaging material in the world. With 32 glass plants, 3 decor plants and 9 cullet (glassware) processing centers in 11 countries, we manufacture 16 billion glass bottles and jars each year to supply 10,000 companies, from local family producers to major international brands.
