In anticipation of the extended deposit | The Pointe-Saint-Charles glass factory is being modernized

We thought the 117-year-old factory was doomed with the rise in popularity of aluminum containers, but the expanded deposit on glass containers is giving it a second wind.

Andre Dubuc
The Press

Owens-Illinois Glass of Ohio is investing $70 million over four years at its Montreal facilities to take advantage of the Quebec deposit expansion that will come into effect in the fall of 2023.

“The modernization of the locker is such a big enabler for this facility,” Tim Connors, general manager, North America, Owens-Illinois, explained in a brief speech.

In all, “75,000 tons of glass which, historically, would have been sent to landfill, in the future, they will go to our furnaces. It is a remarkable achievement. This will bring our recyclable content well above the average for our plants. It’s going to be well over 50%.

The announcement was the subject of a press event on Tuesday afternoon at the Wellington Street factory in Pointe-Saint-Charles, in the presence of ministers Pierre Fitzgibbon and Benoit Charette. Quebec is contributing $21 million: $19 million in the form of a loan and $2 million in the form of a grant.

From selective collection to deposit

Given the way curbside recycling works in Quebec, recycled glass is so contaminated that it ends up in the landfill as backfill material.

“The deposit will provide Owens-Illinois with stability in terms of supply,” said Environment Minister Benoit Charrette in an interview after the event. “Without this reform, we can think that these investments would not have seen the light of day, at least not in these proportions”, he added.

In the future, thanks to the deposit, the recovered glass will be of better quality, to the point that it will be used as input for the manufacture of new glass containers by the 400 workers at the plant.

Producing from recycled glass is an advantage for Owens-Illinois, because the process is less energy-intensive and emits fewer greenhouse gases. Currently, recycled glass (often imported for quality reasons) accounts for around 30% of the bottle, says Minister Fitzgibbon. It will be much more, as Mr. Connors pointed out.

Guaranteed sustainability

For industrial activity on the island of Montreal, the sustainability of the Pointe-Saint-Charles glassworks is good news. The shops are an endangered species, as evidenced by the departure in recent years of the venerable Molson brewery for the suburbs.

Unless I am mistaken, among the large-scale industrial complexes of yesteryear, there remains the Lantic sugar refinery, boulevard Pie-IX, the tobacco company JTI-Macdonald, rue Ontario Est, Robin Hood, rue Notre-Dame Ouest, near Saint-Henri, and Five Roses, at Peel Basin. We must also add the Labatt brewery, in the borough of LaSalle, which was built more recently.

The Owens-Illinois plant, where up to four generations of glassmakers have worked in the same family, produces 1.5 million containers a day, 360 days a year. It supplies the Canadian market and the northeastern United States.

Of the sum of 70 million, more than half has already been invested. It was used to acquire a new furnace B, the one that treats amber glass, the most common example of which is the 341 milliliter dark beer bottle. The money is also used to purchase three forming machines.

“Before, with our old machines, it was complex to change products,” said Mathieu Bouchard, manufacturing unit manager. “Most of the time, we made the bottle of dark beer. Now, with our new B oven, we are more flexible. We are able to have glass color changes. We are able to go to bottles of different formats that we were unable to do before. The factory thus began to produce amber glass wine bottles.

Furnace A, on the other hand, specializes in clear glass. The Montreal plant is recognized for its expertise in spirits bottles through the network of 18 North American plants in Owens-Illinois. It carries out 225 production changes per year, the highest number among the company’s network, indicates Mr. Bouchard.