Vetropack Switzerland installs label remover 

Glass production in St-Prex is up to 80% based on used glass. This means that 100,000 tonnes of used glass is melted down every year. Early in the summer, Vetropack set up a label removal system at its glassworks in St-Prex in order to process the used glass supplied more efficiently.

The used glass supplied to the St-Prex plant normally contains a high proportion of labels and coatings. Previously, optical devices have been used to sort all this “non-glass” material out from the used glass in an automated process. Thanks to the new system, however, residue from labels and coatings is now removed by means of compressed rubbing into a conveyor trough.

The label remover and the glass sorting machines installed in 2019 are enabling the Vetropack glassworks in St-Prex to improve the way used glass is processed – an important improvement given that used glass is such a valuable secondary raw material. In the Swiss plant alone, some 100,000 tonnes of used glass is melted down every year to produce new glass bottles in various shades of green.