Air Emissions

The glass manufacturing process typically generates two types of air emissions: those originating from the fuel combustion in the glass-melting furnaces of the float lines (mostly sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides) on the one hand, and, on the other, emissions generated by the vaporisation and re-crystallisation of materials in the melt (for example heavy metals such as arsenic and lead).

In September 2005 the European Commission presented a proposal for a Directive on ambient air quality. This new legislation would aim to consolidate the existing legislation in this area: the Air Quality Framework Directive and its "Daughter Directives", which, on the basis of the Framework Directive, establish ambient air quality standards for specific substances, including sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and lead. The Daughter Directives also aim to harmonise monitoring strategies and measuring methods in order to achieve comparable measurements at the European Union level.

The proposed revision to air quality legislation would, in its current form, introduce binding limit values for particulate matter. It may also entail stricter rules on monitoring and controlling particulate levels by EU Member States.

More information about the EU's ambient air quality policy can be found here.