Encirc, Northern Ireland’s leading glass manufacturer is now powered by natural gas and is looking forward to a more sustainable future to address climate change and is aiming to be carbon neutral in the next twenty years.

Encirc is part of the Vidrala group and currently employs more than 1,500 people across three European sites in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh; Elton, Cheshire; and Corsico, Italy. The site in Derrylin employs 450 people, produces one billion glass bottles a year, producing between 200 and 650 bottles a minute depending on the side.

The bottles produced in Derrylin are supplied to many leading drinks companies across the world including Jameson Whiskey, Bushmills Whiskey, and Ballygowan Water.

As part of a £45 million investment programme taking place over the next three years in Derrylin, Encirc has converted its production facilities to natural gas, a move which will help ensure it is a more sustainable manufacturer for the future breathing a new lease of life into the glass plant first opened by Quinn Glass in 1998.

“Switching from heavy fuel oil is integral to Encirc’s strategy to boost efficiency and minimise energy consumption across our facilities. These initiatives will further reduce our own environmental impact and support our customers in also shrinking their carbon footprint.” said Adrian Curry, the Enniskillen-born managing director of Encirc.

Mr. Curry was in Derrylin last Thursday to sign the Business Action on Climate pledge which will commit Encirc to measure, reduce and report their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

Sustainability is at the heart of the business with 80 per cent of every green bottle in the plant is made from recycled glass, 60 per cent of every brown bottle is made out of recycled glass and 40 per cent of every white bottle is made out of recycled glass at the plant which operates 24/7, 365 days a year. Any glass that is damaged or faulty in production is recycled through the kiln.

“Since the switch to gas, we have taken between 15 and 20 oil tankers a week off the road or three a day who had previously delivered oil to the plant in Derrylin. Gas is much cleaner and better for the environment” said Mr. Curry.

Fiacre O’Donnell, Director of Sustainability at Encirc explained that the company is the anchor client for moving natural gas to the west of Northern Ireland as the factory is the last place to be supplied on the gas line – currently the line is being laid down in Derrylin as natural gas usage begins to increase across Fermanagh.

SGN Natural Gas has committed to delivering services and meters to nearly 40,000 business and domestic customers over the next 40 years in Artigarvan, Coalisland, Cookstown, Derrylin, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Magherafelt, Omagh, and Strabane as part of the Gas to the West scheme.

Sustainability at Encirc is not just about the sustainability of the fuel and the daily running of the factory.

The company follows the “four P approach” to making Encirc sustainable for the future. The companies focuses on sustaining people, place, planet and prosperity.

The people approach deals with sustaining the workforce with Mr. O’Donnell explaining “when you have a happy, healthy workforce you have a more sustainable workforce".

The company has a state-of-the-art gym at the site in Derrylin and have introduced lunchtime HIIT classes for their employees. They also have been taking part in the women in workforce scheme and aim to recruit a more diverse workforce including more women as currently 18 per cent of the company’s workforce is female.

They were recently awarded a bronze diversity mark by Diversity Mark NI. “This certificate conveys our commitment to develop gender diversity with a view to increasing the numbers of females in our business,” said Mr. O’Donnell.

The focus on place covers many areas, Enicirc has focused their efforts on local community and bio-diversity. They have worked with St.Aidan’s High School, Derrylin and Enniskillen men’s shed to build 'The Lusty Bug' bug hotel on site which will increase bio-diversity in the area.

The aspect of planet deals with creating a lesser impact on the planet from the operations of Encirce. This multifaceted approach allows for new plan regarding energy, transportation, resources and efficiency. They recently installed new equipment designed by employees in the factory to help manage energy efficiency which has resulted in a savings of 14 thousand pounds a year on heating.

The focus on prosperity in Encirc means that the power and authority for responsible business is shared throughout the whole business championed by the CEO. This can be seen by the commitments laid out in signing of the Business Action on Climate Pledge.

There are 260 Business in the Community members in Northern Ireland and over 800 organisations across the UK. Other companies in Northern Ireland who have pledged to the Climate Action Pledge are Danske Bank, Power NI, and Translink.