Planning permission - it is impossible not to broach the subject at an interview with Quinn Glass director Peter Fitzgerald. Last month, the firm took another step closer to obtaining it for its controversial glass manufacturing and bottling facility at Elton, when Cheshire West and Chester Council approved an application that had been submitted in 2008.

 

It has been a long road to get this far - the journey is not over and the issue now passes to the communities secretary - but the firm is adamant building the plant was the right move. "When we told our customers about the furnace and bottling facility, we were encouraged by the fantastic reception. Lots of customers don't understand what the challenge is about," says Fitzgerald.

 

Planning permission or no, Quinn has clearly grabbed a lot of attention for its different approach to running a glass packaging operation. The site produces around 1.2 billion containers and will fill some 300 million units this year. At full capacity, that figure would rise to 650 million. "It's a fantastic model," enthuses Fitzgerald. "We've been asked to build it all over the world."

 

There are many benefits to the firm's customers. A drinks company looking to launch a new product can test a tanker's worth quickly at the site's bottling facility. Quinn can also carry out the bottling until sufficient quantity is produced to justify investment in the drinks firm's own bottling line. "We can quickly deal with huge peaks in volume for bulk-imported wine that's being sold on promotion in UK supermarkets," says Fitzgerald.

 

The most important part of the bottling line, he says, is the laboratory. A firm in, say, Australia can send a sample that Quinn compares with delivered product to ensure the drink that reaches the consumer is the right quality. "Wine from Australia has a 12-week lead time and goes through a lot of different temperatures on the way. If it is shipped in bulk, the surface area makes it easier to control and we can condition it on arrival," says Fitzgerald.

 

In the past, the firm has been blamed for overcapacity in the glass packaging market, but Quinn says that by including the bottling facility it has grown the sector. "We are making glass bottles that didn't exist in the UK and are exporting to northern Europe and North America," says Fitzgerald.

 

Green, green glass

While it seems there is a good business argument for the bottling line, there are undoubted environmental ones, too. Wrap has done a lot of work on bulk imports, and is also working with Quinn to try to find new ways to

make the most of the recycled glass that is collected. The glass industry as a whole has called for more kerbside separated collections to ensure a good quality of material to turn into new bottles and jars. But Wrap and Quinn are also working to develop a market for what Fitzgerald refers to as ‘not'-coloured glass.

 

"The UK works to tight flint and green specifications, whereas in Europe they are wider. We are trying to get customers to understand that the colour of containers may not be that crucial," he says. Rather than stream the glass when changing from a green to a flint production run, Quinn produces bottles throughout the changeover period. It means the firm can take more green cullet out of the waste stream. "They are ‘not' green or flint, but fine for wine bottles," says Fitzgerald.

 

Another area that Quinn, like other glass manufacturers, has been involved in is the lightweighting of glass bottles, the most recent being a 300g wine bottle. But Fitzgerald maintains it is important to ensure that commercial issues match environmental progress. "If you lightweight a bottle, you can make more bottles per tonne of glass. But if you can't sell the containers then the efficiencies will go," he says.

 

The environment plays a key role in everything the firm does. It tries to anticipate how regulations might develop, for example for carbon emissions, even if that means a higher financial outlay initially. "We try to reduce costs, but you have to work within the law. We try to establish best manufacturing techniques, and that adds costs. But it is cheaper than refitting our equipment down the line," says Fitzgerald.

 

Forward thinking is clearly of paramount importance to Quinn and, indeed, Fitzgerald says the firm would not rule out further expansion at the site if demand continues to rise. He also says there is potential to create a one-stop-shop packaging business park on the site as label manufacturers, closure producers and carton packaging firms have said they might be interested in coming on board. "I can definitely see more integration of the whole process and could even envisage brewers and distillers coming on to the site," he says.