David Cameron MP has presented Saint-Gobain’s Eggborough float glass plant – crowned as the UK’s best factory in October – with a prestigious environmental accolade.

The ‘Business Commitment to the Environment’ award was given in recognition of the plant’s innovative flat glass cullet recycling scheme.

Thanks to the scheme, which sees the company collecting and recycling its customers’ cullet, Saint-Gobain Glass has reduced its consumption of raw materials by almost a quarter and the plant’s energy use has been cut by eight per cent.

Presenting at the Awards, the leader of the Conservative Party said ‘One of the most effective ways of making our society a better place is to improve the environment. Business is in a strong position to contribute to that change and all the evidence is that more and more companies are accepting that challenge.’

The Yorkshire site, named as the UK’s best factory at the Best Factory Awards in 2005, is proud of its environmental achievements.

Alan McLenaghan, Site Director at Eggborough, said: ‘Glass manufacturers have been reluctant to implement cullet recycling initiatives, citing contamination issues and transport costs as the barriers.

‘However, with careful planning and a common sense approach we developed a simple and easily managed recycling scheme that has greatly reduced our impact on the environment.’

Source

Glass Age