We’re delighted to welcome Beatson Clark as our Design and Manufacturer of Glass Containers Company of the Month.
During London Packaging Week last September, Beatson Clark launched its brand-new glass packaging decorating service. Glass packaging can be spray-painted any colour, with stunning opaque, frosted, vignette, glitter and pearlescent effects. Thanks to innovative technology, the decorating plant utilises an electrostatic disc and spray gun technique to achieve colourful finishes. The premium water-based paint range includes high gloss through to full matt, in a wide choice of translucency levels and can be colour-paired for each order.
That’s not all. UV rays can change the colour and flavours of food products and cause light strikes in beer. Beatson Clark have come up with an easy solution: UV coating can be sprayed to glass packaging to protect delicate food, beverage and pharmaceutical products from these harmful UV rays.
The flexible service can also decorate glass containers provided directly by customers, in addition to a wide selection of in-house bottles and jars.
Distinguished history
Beatson Clark was established in Rotherham in 1751, over 270 years ago. Today, the family-owned company remains on the site of the original glassworks on Greasbrough Road in Rotherham and is the only independently owned UK manufacturer of glass containers.
Packaging for a growing global market
The food sector has cornered the lion’s share of Beatson Clark’s output, with supermarket own spice and condiment brands supplied, in addition to more boutique, niche lines. However, breweries and pharmaceutical manufacturers are particularly fond of amber glass. This offers multiple benefits such as UV protection, extended shelf life of products and preventing chemical leaching, “An increased demand for glass bottles and jars containing a high proportion of recycled materials has opened up the spirit market to us.”
“On average, our white flint glass containers are made of over 36% post-consumer recycled glass, while the figure for our amber glass is over 56%” explained Charlotte Pike, Marketing Manager at Beatson Clark.
Embedded sustainability practices
“Beatson Clark has invested heavily in two low-emission regenerative furnaces and energy-efficient compressors.”
“Our regenerative furnaces reuse waste heat, cutting the amount of energy needed to achieve the correct temperature by approximately 15% and thereby reducing our emissions. The electrical boost in our amber furnace helps melt the batch more efficiently, reducing the fossil fuel used by approximately 10%.” adds Charlotte.
Beatson Clark’s IS machines are now running with servo electro mechanisms – reducing the compressed air consumption by over 10%.
“Our on-site recycling plant generates the majority of our post-consumer recycled glass (cullet). Using magnets, manual and vacuum systems, and advanced optical sorters, we process approximately 44,000 tonnes of waste glass each year which is recovered from kerbside collections, bottle banks and the hospitality trade. This is then melted in our furnaces and made into new bottles and jars.”
Trends in glass packaging
“A demand for high levels of recycled glass content continues to be a trend in the food and drink sector. The food sector seems to be leaning towards deep twist off necks with a straight sided, cylindrical design which gives a sleek and modern appearance to a glass container.”
“Glass is safe: it’s inert, and it’s the only mainstream packaging material that does not need an additional layer to be safe for food and drink, exempt from REACH registration.”
For more information, click here:
www.beatsonclark.co.uk