The Aquatic Environment

The most significant water use during the glass manufacturing process occurs during the cooling phase of the float process (and, in the glass recycling process, cleaning of used glass that has been crushed and is ready for recycling).

However, liquid effluents discharged from glass manufacturing are marginal when compared to other industrial sectors. Waste water may include soluble glass-making materials such as sodium sulphate, organic compounds from lubricant oil used in the cutting process, or treatment chemicals from the cooling water systems.

In 2006 the European Commission presented a proposal to revise and make more stringent the EU’s Water Framework Directive, which establishes limits for permissible concentrations in surface water of substances believed to be harmful to animal and plant life in the aquatic environment and to human health. Under the proposed revised rules, the new limit values would have to be met by 2015 and emission of certain “priority” hazardous substances into the environment would have to cease altogether by 2025.