What is the role of design in glass packaging?

Why does packaging design matter?

For most of human civilisation, packaging served exclusively as a way to transport, store, and protect goods. It was not until the 20th century that packaging started to merge with branding to became one. Since then, packaging design has become a true brand ambassador on the shelves, as the consumer’s first point of contact with a product, at a moment that can strongly influence their purchasing decisions. That’s why packaging remains a crucial way for brands to maximise their appeal and convey their essence and commitments at a glance – and why glass continues to appeal to generations of consumers and brands alike.

Why is glass the ideal material for product package design?

Glass is a versatile, trustworthy and authentic material

Glass is an iconic, stylish and premium packaging that appeals to all five senses.

With unlimited options for creative shapes, gradient design and embossing, unique glass packaging designs can capture the core characteristics of a brand. Through this authenticity, glass packaging design highlights the provenance and heritage of regional products. That’s why glass has become a packaging material that people are inspired to save, reuse, and even share on social media platforms.

Glass transparency adds to premiumisation

Glass has a transparent appearance that merges perfectly with the natural ingredients of the products inside. It is no coincidence that glass is associated with premium credentials and has a long-standing partnership with the cosmetics and perfume industries.

Glass feels premium, looks premium and stands out on shelves against products packaged in alternative materials. But, with so many products on the shelves, what is the role of glass packaging design in differentiating a brand and influencing people’s decisions?

Glass is a marketing and communication tool

When consumers enter a shop, they are immediately greeted by a hundred different product variants and numerous competing packaging designs, all competing for their attention. In such a competitive market, consumers look for recognisable brands to help them navigate through a jungle of products.

Products packaged in glass stand out on crowded supermarket shelves with their stylish and unique embossed designs, eye-catching colours and shapes that help brands create a differentiated and authentic identity that reflects the quality of the product within.

Glass packaging inspires creativity

Glass can be made into almost any shape, colour, and texture imaginable. For this reason, glass ignites creativity as each design comes with its own personality.

For example, glass can be transformed from a Bordeaux wine bottle to a perfume bottle or even a jam jar by adjusting the size, neck, body, or bottom.

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Glass is made from natural ingredients – making it best for preserving taste and quality. As a tasteless and odourless material with no chemical interaction, glass prevents the transfer.

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Energy efficiency and low carbon technologies in container glass

New furnaces are progressively being rebuilt or adapted with innovative low carbon technologies that are much more energy -efficient than in the past. Our industry reduces energy consumption by making use of waste heat recovery technologies, Organic Rankine Cycles technology, oxy-fuel and other symbiotic technologies, which are bringing significant energy savings. While energy savings can have a positive effect there are also downsides.

New energy management systems and technologies deployed throughout the glass plants are helping to increase energy efficiency.

Waste heat recovery from flue gases, when possible, can bring significant energy savings. They can be used in the batch and/or cullet pre-heaters, where the heat of the flue gases is used to warm the raw materials. Not all plants can install this technology as it requires a lot of space. There is also the risk of having more dust build up inside the regenerators, damaging them quicker and reducing their service life.

Another great way to reduce energy is through the Organic Rankine Cycles technology, with innovative refrigerants, that can also generate power from the heat in the flue gases. This technology has however very long pay-back times and is generally only installed in countries with high electricity prices.

Where appropriate, the use of oxy-fuel furnaces, using pure oxygen with natural gas, linked with cullet pre-heating can be economically viable, and can bring some savings as there is no need to heat the nitrogen in the air. However, the production of oxygen requires electricity and needs to be added to the furnace consumption when calculating the net impact (indirect emissions from power generation).

New technologies are also emerging like the combination of oxyfuel furnaces with methane cracking, where natural gas is injected in the regenerators to produce a syngas which can also reduce the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions.

The reduction in energy use in the container glass sector has been on a steep downward trajectory over almost 100 years and is now reaching its thermodynamic limit.

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