The Gloine Chronicles:
Focus USA - Glass Industry - Year 2020
News Column
January/February of 2020
Glass continues to be an important element in sustainability efforts in the USA, though difficulties in the collection of glass
for recycling have intensived in recent years. Fiberglass firms continue to utilize substantial amounts of cullet. While
glass packaging faces headwinds as aluminium cans become more in demand for beer packaging, the potential for
growth is likely to increase for glass as a replacement for single-use packaging for other products.
Pictured here is a glass clean up system located at one of the largest single stream
material recovery facilities operated by Rumpke Recycling in Cincinnati, Ohio.
(This photograph was provided courtesy of Rumpke Waste & Recycling.)
Portions of the glass industry in the United States are quite vibrant and growing based on statistics and statements from leaders within the industry. Segments, though, are facing headwinds from foreign competition, changes in consumer tastes, and regulatory actions taken or planned by governmental entities.
In this news column, we look at four broad segments of the glass industry in the USA: glass packaging, glass recycling, fiberglass, and innovative glass products. Additional information on the glass packaging industry is detailed in the accompanying news column, The Gloine Chronicles: Glass Packaging Industry - Focus USA.
According to the United States Census Bureau, 90,507 people worked in Glass and Glass Product Manufacturing in the nation in 2016 (the most recent year for this report). The payroll for these individuals was USD $4,754,118,000 in 2016.
Those overall numbers represent an increase from 2010 (75,539), but are still below the numbers for 2006 (100,919).
The value of the shipments from Glass and Glass Product Manufacturing firms totaled USD $26,230,901,000 in 2016 (the most recent year for this report), according to the Census Bureau. This represents an increase from the value of shipments in 2010 – USD $20,712,765,000, and the value of shipments in 2006 – USD $23,760,248,000.
Glass Packaging:
“The glass container industry continues to see increasing bottle and jar use among brands in a variety of food and beverage markets,” stated Mr. Scott DeFife, President, Glass Packaging Institute (GPI). “Shipments of spirits bottles from our USA plants continue to increase, and are up nearly 8% since 2017. USA wine bottle shipments to customers have also increased in 2019.”
“The food, spirits and wine bottle and jar shipments have also increased their share of the overall USA glass container marketplace, reflecting consumers' desire to purchase high quality products in glass,” continued Mr. DeFife.
Changes are projected for the wine industry.
The domestic glass bottle market may be impacted in coming years by continuing changes in the wine industry, according to the State of the Wine Industry Report 2019: “Bottled imports will take additional market share from USA producers.”
This report, written by Mr. Rob McMillan, Executive Vice President and Founder of Silicon Valley Bank’s Wine Division, also detailed that “the wine industry’s sales growth has been muted for the past several years and is now close to moving into negative territory for the first time since 1993.”
The craft beer industry is another segment of the beverage market undergoing changes in the USA.
“Glass makes up a significant portion of the packaged beer craft brewers sell in the market,” explained Mr. Paul Gatza, Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division at Brewers Association. “That percentage share for glass and craft brewers is likely between 30 and 40 percent.”
Other packaging options, taking the place of glass, are becoming more common for craft brewers.
“Aluminium cans are growing share of packaging rapidly for a number of reasons,” according to Mr. Gatza. Among those reasons cited by him are “weight, customer adoption of cans in the past 15 years or so, [and] mobile canning systems so a brewer doesn’t need as large of an upfront investment on packaging lines. Smaller brewers have had concerns with minimum can ordering sizes.”
Glass bottles and jars before and after crushing into processed glass aggregate.
(The photo was provided courtesy of Northeast Resource Recovery Association.)
Recycling:
Recycling continues to be a major part of the glass industry. Economics and environmental goals both continue to push recycling as an integral part of the glass industry.
“Use of recycled glass cullet back into bottle or fiberglass furnace saves a substantial amount of energy, thereby also reducing air emissions and greenhouse gases,” explained Mr. Scott Mouw, Senior Director of Strategy and Research of The Recycling Partnership. “In addition, [glass recycling prevents]…environmental damage and energy consumed in the extraction of virgin materials.”
Problems have arisen in recent years with the processes used to recycle glass in various communities throughout the USA. Those problems revolve around structural issues of the recycling industry as well as overall costs.
Materials recovery facilities and waste hauling firms in a number of communities have stopped accepting glass for recycling. Some municipalities have faced steep cost increases for glass recycling and have dropped that option for their residents. Single-stream recycling, while overall efficient in many respects, creates a greater likelihood of contamination among glass being recycled, thereby reducing the value of the glass collected through recycling.
As part of the glass industry’s efforts to encourage recycling, Mr. DeFife cited the Glass Recycling Foundation (GRF), a non-profit organisation founded earlier in 2019. “The GRF has received initial funding commitments to support the glass recycling infrastructure and recycling programmes from both brands and manufacturers,” explained Mr. DeFife. “The GRF plans to provide an announcement of funding and programme initiatives in the first quarter of 2020.”
EcoTouch Insulation produced by Owens Corning is seen being installed in a ceiling. According
to information from the firm, one of the largest manufacturers of fiberglass insulation in the
USA, this insulation is “certified by Scientific Certifications Systems to have a minimum of
58 percent recycled glass content with at least 36 percent post-consumer recycled and
the balance pre-consumer recycled glass content.”
(This photograph was provided courtesy of Owens Corning.)
Fiberglass:
“Recycling glass into fiberglass insulation or processed glass aggregate enables glass, a valuable resource, to stay out of landfills and be reused,” according to Ms. Reagan Bissonnette of Northeast Resource Recovery Association. “Recycling glass also saves money for municipalities when tipping fees to dispose of municipal solid waste continue to rise, especially in the Northeast.”
The fiberglass industry is the second largest user of cullet in the USA; the glass packaging industry is the largest user of cullet in this country.
Cullet is used in the production of many fiberglass insulation products, from loose fill blown into attics to pipe insulation and from insulation used within appliances to residential batt insulation.
“They use [cullet] in place of virgin materials such as sand,” explained Ms. Laura Hennemann of Strategic Materials. “Recycled glass melts at a lower temperature, providing energy savings and a reduction in CO2 emissions, which directly impacts climate change. Further, the lower melting temperature is easier on manufacturers’ furnaces, helping to lengthen the life of the furnace and reducing maintenance.”
The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA) estimated that more than 2.1 billion pounds of recycled glass was used in the production of residential, commercial, industrial, and air handling thermal and acoustical insulation in the USA during 2018 (the most recent year for this data).
“Our members would welcome the opportunity to use more cullet in their products,” stated Mr. Angus Crane, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of NAIMA. “Key factors to increasing cullet use are the availability of clean cullet within close range of fiberglass production facilities. Geographic considerations are important because of transport costs.”
“Governmental regulations also encourage the use of cullet in a variety of glass products, including glass packaging products and fiberglass insulation products, in California,” continued Mr. Crane.
The amount of cullet varies among fiberglass insulation products. “Some companies use up to 65% cullet,” noted Mr. Crane. “On average, businesses use 40% to 45% cullet in their fiberglass insulation products.”
This sustainability is a critical component for many in the fiberglass insulation industry.
“Fracture is a photo decor brand,” stated Mr. Abhi Lokesh, Chief
Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Fracture. “Our first product
is a glass print that allows you to print your moments in vivid,
high-quality colour directly onto a piece of glass.”
(The photograph was provided courtesy of Fracture.)
Innovative Products:
Glass has been utilised for a variety of innovative products through the years. One of the newer products uses glass in photography and art.
“We chose glass because as a material it conveys a sense of timeless elegance whilst also being seen as modern and minimal,” explained Mr. Lokesh. “Our usage of glass has certainly increased in 2019...[with] sales…[up] approximately 55% year-over-year from 2018.”
External forces may impact the growth of some consumer products that utilise glass in future years.
“The biggest external force is really consumer sentiment and buying power and the overall state of the economy,” explained Mr. Lokesh. “Our product depends on consumers feeling confident about their financial security and being willing to spend their discretionary income on products like ours.”
Overall, the glass industry is relatively strong in the USA. There is both potential for increased as well as decreased usage of glass in segments of the industry. Businesses are considering costs, customer tastes, and governmental mandates, among other factors, to determine whether glass is the best option for their products.
Do you have questions about the glass industry?
Governmental regulations? Company operations?
Your questions may be answered in future news columns.
Contact Richard McDonough at gloinechronicles@gmail.com.
© 2019 Richard McDonough