Seattle maker of wine bottles boosts use of recycled glass

SEATTLE – On the “hot end” of the Verallia plant, the glass making remains an industrial process. In this subdivision of towering steel furnaces, brick and oppressive heat, raw materials are mixed, melted and dripped in glowing globs into metal molds.

On the “cold end,” however, a new system of conveyor belts on blue frames carries cooled and coated wine bottles through a state-of-the-art packaging apparatus.

Verallia, owned by Saint-Gobain in Paris, has invested $20 million over 18 months to modernize its South Seattle plant, which has been making glass containers for regional customers since before the end of Prohibition.

The plant spits out approximately 1 million bottles a day – 90 percent of them wine bottles going to Washington, Oregon and British Columbia wineries.

“Verallia’s new production line represents how they have been able to grow and adapt to the changing needs of their customers,” said Steven Sudol, senior manager of strategic sourcing for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in Woodinville. “It is crucial for us to be on the leading edge of packaging technology.”

Northwestern Glass founded the plant in 1931. Over the years, it has had many different owners and produced many different types of glass food and beverage containers.

Wine bottles have been manufactured here more than 30 years, and Saint-Gobain has owned and operated the plant the last 15.

The new mechanized package system was one focus in Verallia’s efforts to modernize the plant.

A new partnership has doubled the use of cullet, or crushed recycled glass. eCullet, which moved onto the site in early 2009, processes recycled glass from the Seattle area and Canada. The cullet is hauled to Verallia’s plant next door and mixed with the raw materials of sand, soda ash and limestone.

Currently, 48 percent of the bottles produced at the plant are made from cullet; the goal is 50 percent by the end of the year.