Ciner Glass, a glass production company based in Turkey, is developing a new glass container manufacturing facility in Lommel, Belgium, with an estimated investment of €600m ($641.33m).
The stone-laying ceremony for the new facility took place in November 2023. The facility will have a production capacity of 1,300 tonnes of glass a day or seven million glass bottles a year.
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Expected to commence operations in 2026, the facility will help in meeting the growing demand for glass containers in the European market.
Ciner Glass will supply glass containers from the new facility to food and beverage manufacturing companies in the UK. The project is expected to generate between 500 and 550 new jobs during construction.
Location
Ciner Glass’ new manufacturing facility is being developed within the Kristalpark III business park in Lommel, Flanders.
A land transfer agreement was finalised by Ciner Glass in February 2023 for the purchase of land for the facility in Lommel. The land was previously owned by LRM, an investment company.
The site was preferred due to the availability of skilled labour, proximity to major industries in Europe and its excellent connectivity by road, rail and waterway. It is also located close to the port of Antwerp.
Silica sand raw material and glass cullet used for the production of glass are also easily available in Lommel.
Ciner Glass’ container glass production facility details
Ciner Glass’ container glass production facility will span 240,000m². It will be equipped with two furnaces, which will be developed in two phases. The first furnace is expected to be operational by 2025, while the second will commence operations in 2026.
An automated warehouse to store raw materials, finished products and waste will also be built. It will have the capacity to store 250 million bottles.
The facility will also feature an administrative building, parking spaces, rainwater infiltration basins and utility facilities such as a high-voltage room.
Sustainable features
The Lommel facility will use 75% recycled glass instead of 50%, facilitating the production of sustainable high-quality container glass. Energy consumption at the facility is also expected to be 20% lower as recycled glass melts at lower temperatures.
Ciner Glass’ innovations will help in lowering the weight of the glass bottles by 10%, which will reduce resource use and annual carbon emissions associated with transportation. The facility is expected to reduce the overall carbon emissions by approximately 29,000t.
Financing
The Flanders region is supporting the project by providing €2m in subsidies and €3m in the form of a repayable advance.
Contractors involved
Engineering firm TRACTEBEL was appointed as the engineering partner for the project in collaboration with Mint Architecten.
JR ECOnsult was engaged by TRACTEBEL to support the environmental permitting application and perform the permitting process follow-up.
Integrated Project Support, a consulting firm, was contracted by Ciner Glass to provide guidance to the construction team. The scope of work includes handling document management systems, building information management and monitoring interfaces between the different disciplines. It is also responsible for contract management and quality assurance.
Lydian, a law firm based in Belgium, served as Ciner Glass’ legal counsel for the land transfer agreement signed with LRM.
Marketing commentary on Ciner Glass
Ciner Glass is a part of the Turkish industrial conglomerate Ciner Group. It produces sustainable glass bottles for the food and beverage market and employs more than 1,000 people globally.
The company operates the Park Glass facility in Turkey, which serves 22% of the Turkish beverage market. It is also developing a glass container facility in South Wales, UK.
