O-I has revealed how it re-emphasised sustainable innovation in glass packaging at the Worldwide Distilled Spirits Conference in Edinburgh this week.
The conference, held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, is run by the Scottish Section of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling. It is a collective of scientific practitioners dedicated to the distilled spirits business.
At the conference, O-I displayed recent innovations such as its Contemporary Collection. This is described as a range of three lightweight, premium spirits containers at just 600g, made in Scotland for distribution across Europe. Made from standard flint glass, the range contains around 40% recycled content.
O-I added that it is the first glass container maker to have its emissions targets approved by the Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi). This commits the firm to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030. It has also set goals to reach 40% renewable energy use, reduce water usage by 25%, and have a global recycled content of at least 50% in the same timeframe.
These commitments will see investment at O-I’s Alloa plant which serves the Scotch whisky industry. The company has entered into a partnership with Air Products which will build an air separation plant alongside the glass plant. This, O-I explained, will enable the company to convert all furnaces to oxy-fuel technology over the next seven years.
Steve Holden, O-I’s commercial director UK and Ireland, said, “It was important that we took the opportunity to illustrate to this key group of stakeholders how O-I is addressing sustainability. We were delighted with the positive conversations that resulted as distillers understood how O-I’s actions feed into their own sustainability initiatives.”
O-I also showed samples of O-I : EXPRESSIONS, its late-stage customisation service, powered by digital direct-to-glass printing. This delivers personalisation without the need for bespoke moulds, decoration and/or a separate labelling operation.
