Ardagh Glass Packaging – Africa (AGP – Africa) today announced the commissioning of a R1.5 billion ($95m) extension of its Nigel production facility in Gauteng, South Africa. The investment more than doubles the facility’s capacity to provide sustainable glass packaging to support our customers’ current and projected demand growth, and incorporates a new furnace and production lines. It also provides significant energy, water efficiency and environmental benefits, representing another important step in AGP – Africa’s journey to de-carbonise the glass production process and reduce emissions in the communities in which it operates.

This significant capital investment will bolster the government’s economic recovery plans and the project will offer much-needed job opportunities in Ekurhuleni, a city that has always had an unemployment rate that is above the Gauteng and national averages. The expansion has created more than 150 direct jobs and significant ancillary supply-chain expenditure.

Paul Curnow, AGP – Africa’s CEO, said: “We are proud to commission this significant capacity investment, which supports strong demand from our customers for sustainable, premium glass packaging. Completion of this project, on time and budget despite the Covid-19 and supply chain challenges of the past two years, represents a tremendous achievement by our technical and operational teams. The outlook for premium, sustainable glass packaging remains positive and AGP – Africa expects to continue to invest in support of future market growth.”

Paul Coulson, Chairman and CEO of Ardagh Group, said: “Demand for sustainable packaging in Africa is growing strongly, supported by multiple factors, including rising income levels, growing sustainability awareness, favourable demographics and a shift to one-way packaging. We are committed to investing in our people and our asset base to enable us to serve this strong demand growth over the near term.”