Steklarna Hrastnik

Steklarna Hrastnik’s carbon-free bottles / Source: Steklarna Hrastnik

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WHAT WE SAY:

How many times do you hear the pushback, "we cannot use glass because it is heavier on CO2 emissions in transportation."

And yet we know glass is infinitely recyclable and perfect for so many applications. Here is a great example of stripping out the fossil fuels from the manufacturing process to create ‘carbon-free’ bottles with zero compromise on quality.

Glass bottles being refined with fire / Source: Steklarna Hrastnik

ABOUT STEKLARNA HRASTNIK

Slovenian glass manufacturer Steklarna Hrastnik is renowned for using some of the clearest glass in world and produces a range of premium and super premium Glass containers, for the spirit, perfumery and cosmetics market.
Exporting to 55 countries, the company’s production capacity is 240 tonnes daily.
The company works on over 200 new development projects a year and supplies globally established brands, such as Bacardi, Pernod Ricard, Diageo, Heineken, Carlsberg and Hennessy.
The company is now investing in so-called 'green hydrogen gas technology' to create carbon-free bottles. 2021 saw the completion of the first bottle batch. The company used green hydrogen produced by electrolysis, thanks to solar cells. The main raw material was external cullet collected from waste recycled glass, and oxygen and hydrogen were used as fuel. The company said that the only emission produced was water vapour and that the process had no significant impact on the quality of the glass product.
Hrastnik is testing the industrial scale potential of this technology in 2022, sourcing hydrogen from a third party. To date, the company has a capacity to melt 200 kilograms of carbon-free and 100% PCR glass.
The company plans to reduce its carbon footprint by more than 40% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050.