The recent Glass Trend conference had a record amount of attendees.

A total of 88 delegates from 14 countries attended the two-day conference, which was organised by Dutch company Celsian.

Attendees ranged from brand owners, glass manufacturers, associations, institutes and glass machinery suppliers.

The conference theme was ‘How to face the technological challenges of the Paris climate agreement’ and included 16 papers related to the subject.

The keynote papers were given by Heineken’s Charles Richardson, who gave an update of his paper On Our Way to the Greenest Bottle, given at last year’s event, and Shell’s Ewald Breunesse, who discussed energy transition opportunities.

Other papers were given by companies such FEVE, O-I, Fives, FIC UK, Sisecam and AGC.

Celsian Managing Director Harmen Kielstra said he was very pleased with the event.

He said: “It’s one thing to have 88 people but I’m also pleased with the content and how much energy everyone put into it.

“We as a team put a programme together that we thought would move the entire industry a bit further forward. I felt everybody was interested from the first minute right up to the end.”

FEVE’s paper, delivered by Fabrice Rivet, pictured, detailed the timeline that glassmakers face in their efforts to decarbonise by 2050.

Mr Kielstra said: “It's a collective challenge which we need to address and solve collectively. This includes the brand owners, the furnace designers and builders, and guys like us. Then hopefully we can move the needle, because we have to.”

The conference on April 18 and 19 took place took place at Glass Trend member company Eurotherm by Schneider Electric’s office based in Marktheidenfeld, near Wurzburg, Germany.

The event included a breakout session where seven groups of 10 to 12 people were invited to discuss what the future of the industry might be.

“We think everyone appreciated it,” said Mr Kielstra. “Someone in the float industry might have a solution that had never been thought of in the container sector, or vice versa, so it was something where we can build on each other’s knowledge.”

This was the 36th Glass Trend conference. The first one took place in 2001 and has been held twice a year since.