Russian container glass manufacturer Sibsteklo (Siberian Glass) plans to increase its supply of cullet by a quarter.

It will expand the geography of collecting glass waste for its production needs after the Glass Recycling comoany opened bases to accept cullet in Irkutsk and Khabarovsk, as well as in Voronezh.

According to the Acting General Director of Sibsteklo, Anton Mora, the locations were determined by the presence of transport corridors.

At present, Sibsteklo purchases on average about 3.5 thousand tons of cullet per month. During the year, 55 thousand tons of glass waste, including production ones, are melted in glass-making furnaces.

According to forecasts, by September 2021, the supply of cullet to the company should increase by a quarter. However, the ratio of cullet and natural components in the manufacture of glass containers will remain the same for now.

This quarter, the company plans to put into operation a new glass-making furnace with a capacity of 375 tons of molten glass per day, the productivity of glass complexes will increase by 25%, followed by the plant's need for cullet, said Anton Mor.

According to him, the task for the next two years is to increase the share of cullet in the composition of raw materials from 25-30% to 40-45%, which will increase the efficiency of Sibsteklo's economic activities and minimise the technogenic impact on the urban ecosystem.

The economic and environmental agendas at Sibglass are closely interrelated. It is technologically more difficult to produce glass containers without cullet, using it, they improve the characteristics of glass.

One ton of cullet replaces 1.2 tons of minerals. Since glass is recyclable an unlimited number of times, the rate of depletion of mineral reserves slows down.

In addition, the melting point of cullet is not as high as a mixture of sand, soda and dolomite: every 10% of recyclable materials in the batch reduces energy consumption by 3%.

As a result, carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere are reduced, and glass furnaces burn out not after 7-10 years, but after 10-15 years.