Visy, a packaging and recycling company, has commissioned its new A$150m ($100m) sustainable glass furnace at its facility in Sydney, Australia. 

The new furnace was officially opened yesterday (18 July) by New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns and Visy chair Anthony Pratt.  

Touted as Australia's most energy-efficient glass furnace, it uses oxygen-only fuel, reducing energy consumption by more than half compared to its predecessor. 

"That’s the equivalent of saving enough energy to heat over 32,000 Sydney homes every year," Pratt highlighted.  

The Penrith site, where the furnace is located, stands as the sole glass bottle and jar manufacturing factory in NSW.

The site produces more than 800 million glass containers annually, catering to the country’s prominent food and beverage companies, including Vegemite, Cottee’s Jam, Toohey's New, and Bundaberg Ginger Beer.  

The facility's adoption of advanced recycled cullet preheating technology will also enhance the use of recycled glass in the country's glass bottle manufacturing sector. 

Pratt said: "This new technology is part of our programme to make glass containers with an average [of] 70% recycled content across Australia and New Zealand."  

The factory processes recycled glass collected from household bins and the Return and Earn container deposit scheme to produce new bottles and jars. 

This investment aligns with Pratt's 2021 pledge to invest $2bn over the following decade to reduce landfill, combat climate change, and sustain thousands of green-collar jobs in Australia. 

“At Visy, we’re not just manufacturers - we’re in the landfill-avoidance business because recycling is an important weapon against climate change. We’re investing in low-energy technology, as well as high-paying, green-collar jobs, and boosting Australia’s manufacturing capability,” Pratt finalised.

In February this year, Visy opened its upgraded glass recycling facility in Laverton, Melbourne, Australia.