Cullet plays a hugely important part in Ardagh Group’s daily glass manufacturing operations. It enables the company to meet the market need for glass bottles and jars that contain a high percentage of recycled glass.
Ardagh Group held its third Cullet Conference, bringing together suppliers and customers to discuss the future requirements of glass cullet quality and availability.
With more than 95% of Ardagh Group’s cullet suppliers present, Johan Gorter, CEO of Ardagh Glass, opened the conference with the company’s strong views on sustainability.
The key messages were: ‘Glass is the best packaging option for resource efficiency’, and ‘together we must collect more glass and recycle it into high-quality cullet to be re-used in our furnaces’.
Hans Hilkes, Supplier Quality Manager, and Sven-Roger Kahl, Manager of Furnace Operations & Innovations, talked about the Ardagh Cullet Management System, Cullet Supplier Quality performance over the years and the challenges to the industry regarding Ardagh’s future cullet requirements.
Ullrich Ix, President of FERVER, talked about its position on the Heavy Metal discussion for packaging materials, and Jacques van Putten, Managing Director of Flexty, discussed the checks it conducts on behalf of the glass industry.
One of its ’Cullet Check’ vans was present for demonstration.
Sessions were also held on the latest developments in sorting techniques, with a focus on lead glass and organics. Three major producers of glass recycling sorting equipment: Binder & Co, Redwave and KRS with partner company Sesotec, presented their vision on present and future developments of glass recycling.
The event took place at the Van der Valk Hotel in Schiphol, The Netherlands on November 29.
Johan Gorter, CEO of Ardagh Glass, said: “As a producer of sustainable glass packaging solutions, Ardagh Group is committed to meeting the requirements of a true circular economy.
"Our latest cullet conference in Schiphol continues Ardagh's work with our industry partners across the supply chain to further increase glass recycling rates and grow our industry-leading usage of cullet in support of our customers.”
