ResponsibleGlass Update: Circularity, Collaboration and Progress – June Newsletter

June 2, 2026

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Building the Foundations of Circularity in Glass

The Circularity Working Group is meeting regularly to support the development of the future ResponsibleGlass Standard, with the first draft expected for public consultation in July 2026. Early conversations recognise the complexity of defining circularity consistently across different glass sectors, including container, flat, automotive and pharmaceutical glass.

Members highlighted that recycled content thresholds, recyclability approaches and material recovery pathways vary significantly depending on product type and manufacturing processes. They have also explored broader questions around transparency, traceability and credibility in recycled content claims.

Working Group members have provided detailed feedback on establishing a robust industry glossary, covering common terminology to ensure global alignment on definitions and wording. This will be essential in the development of the ResponsibleGlass Standard as the industry works together to establish low-carbon, responsible glass practices.

If you are interested in supporting these discussions around circularity in glass production, please get in touch with the ResponsibleGlass team.

ResponsibleGlass Visits Glass Futures

The ResponsibleGlass team recently visited Glass Futures for a tour of its Global Centre of Excellence in St Helens, UK.

During the visit, we enjoyed a tour of the R&D facility and discussed a range of areas of potential collaboration to help support the aims of both ResponsibleGlass and Glass Futures. Highlights included seeing the world’s first multi-fuel hybrid pilot-scale glass furnace, which enables collaborators to experiment with different energy sources, raw materials and technologies to create the foundational materials of tomorrow.

As a supporter of ResponsibleGlass, Glass Futures is playing an important role in helping to shape the future of responsible, low-carbon glass production, and the visit also provided an opportunity to discuss the ongoing development of the ResponsibleGlass Standard and the importance of collaboration across the glass value chain.

ResponsibleGlass would like to thank the Glass Futures team for their warm welcome and insightful discussions. We look forward to continuing our collaboration as we work together to advance responsible practices across the global glass industry.

Register for the ResponsibleGlass Webinar

Have you registered for the ResponsibleGlass Webinar? There’s still time to sign up.

The session will feature representatives from the ResponsibleGlass team, board members and founding organisations helping to shape the future of responsible glass. This is a valuable opportunity to hear directly from the organisations involved in developing the ResponsibleGlass Standard and to understand what comes next.

Register here →

We’re at Furnace Solutions 20 – see you there?

ResponsibleGlass’s Standards Lead, Matthew Wenban-Smith is attending Furnace Solutions 20, organised by the Society of Glass Technology on 3 – 4 June 2026. Furnace Solutions has become one of the industry’s leading technical forums, providing a valuable opportunity for knowledge sharing and collaboration on the future of glass manufacturing.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the conference brings together glassmakers, suppliers, technology providers and industry experts from across the global glass sector under this year’s theme “Decarbonisation: What’s the Reality?”. On Thursday at 12.35pm, Matthew will be presenting ‘ResponsibleGlass: Making Net Zero Glassmaking Profitable?’, detailing how ResponsibleGlass is putting the foundations in place to support profitable sustainable glassmaking.

The event gives ResponsibleGlass the opportunity to join discussions on sustainability, collaboration and the development of responsible practices across the glass value chain and to raise awareness of the ResponsibleGlass Standard development.