This survey looks at the progress made during the last 24 years in glass container manufacture. This period was chosen because it allows comparisons to be made with the state of the art before the first energy cricis of 1973. In that year the price of heavy fuel oil, generally used for making glass in Europe, rose by 300%. This dramatic increase hastened the general trend towards more efficient furnaces. The higher cost of energy is, however, only one of several important factors that have influenced the industry over the same period. There has also been continued competition from other materials, the replacement of returnable by one-way containers that are increasingly recycled as cullet and, more recently, the impact of environmental regulations
