Rockware Glass’s Knottingley glass packaging factory enjoyed a visit from the Duke of York on March 4 as it celebrated 50 years of production, during which 30bn glass beverage bottles have rolled off its lines.
The Duke congratulated staff on gaining a 2003 Queen’s Enterprise Award: Sustainable Development for their work in raising glass recycling by 75%, and witnessed the start of a £25M investment programme which will see two furnaces rebuilt and
new emissions reduction technology installed that Rockware says will far exceed stringent European requirements to be introduced in 2007. The UK’s first 10-section Owens-Illinois quadruple gob machine will make lightweight bottles at high outputs. Rockware is also investing £7M in a second cullet treatment plant alongside its Doncaster factory, creating 30 new jobs.