The All India Glass Manufacturers’ Federation (AIGMF) have organised special sessions to celebrate World Environment Day.

The AIGMF’s special sessions were held at the Hotel Pride Plaza in Delhi, India.

The first session was organised by the federation’s Executive Committee and the key message was to adopt glass bottles. The logos were Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan (the clean India campaign), which showcased India’s commitment to a greener environment.

Raj Kumar Mittal, President of the AIGMF, said: “We have been gifting glass bottles in all AIGMF events ever since Prime Minister Modi announced Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.”

It has become apparent that people worldwide are calling for a ban on plastic. Therefore, the AIGMF is promoting its best solution on how to beat pollution, which is to adopt glass bottles.

Bharat Somany, Vice President of the AIGMF, said: “For our most recent initiative on a drawing competition for school children, we have received an overwhelming response from students who have shared wonderful drawings and ideas on adopting glass bottles in our daily lives.”

The names and drawings of the winners of the competition will be announced on World Environment Day, which is June 5th.

The second session was about Soda Ash for Glass Manufacturing, which was held parallel to the Executive Committee meeting.

Marguerite Morrin, a guest speaker and Senior Director of Chemicals at IHS Market, said: “Soda Ash is used in glass manufacturing, which is produced both naturally as well as in chemical form.”

Key topics covered in her presentation included: Top producers, a global supply profile, capacity changes by type and geography, soda ash and the environment, natural soda ash and its place in the global soda ash industry and new environmentally focused demand sectors such as lithium carbonate and solar panels.

Specially manufactured glass bottles by Hindustan National Glass and Industries were debuted, which included World Environment Day and Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan logos. This was in response to public demand for responsible and safe packaging.

A short video was released in Hindi on the benefits of glass packaging. It was an additional video to the English version, which was released earlier this year.

The third session was about the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Container Glass in India. It was a result of an earlier LCA study in 2012, which provided a foundation of the meaningful use of LCA results and portrayed a green image of the product amongst consumers and other stakeholders.

Mr Mittal concluded: “Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss in quality or purity.

“Glass is the trusted and proven packaging for health, taste and the environment.

“[There will be an] uninterrupted supply of glass containers for packaging drug formulations, food products and beverages, which is directly linked to Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.”

Pictured: Marguerite Morrin's presentations on a Global Overview on Soda Ash and Soda Ash & the Environment.