Alicia DURAN

Abstract:

In May 2021, the news that glass communities everywhere had been waiting for winged its way round the world; the United Nations had endorsed 2022 as the International Year of Glass. The application had taken the previous 18 months to prepare and included a 30-minute video, an electronic brochure and printed documents explaining the vital role glassy materials play in helping the world achieve the humanitarian goals encompassed in the UN 2030 declarations. 

The submission of the application rested largely on the International Commission on Glass, along with the Community of Glass Associations and the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Glass (ICOM-Glass). Nineteen countries co-sponsored the Resolution A/75/L.84, approving the International Year of Glass. More than 2500 institutions, companies, artists and individuals from 95 countries all over the world have written to support this common dream and messages continue coming. 

The book Welcome to the Glass Age, focusing on the various UN 2030 goals was published and a great and successful Opening Ceremony was held in the Room of Human Rights in the Palace of nations in Geneva, on 10-11 February 2022. More than 4800 online attendants on 11^th February joined the 150 in person participants, constituting the biggest event in the history of glass field but also the most wider in the history of United nations. 

In July, the ICG Congress in Berlin celebrating the DGG’s centenary gathered more than 850 participants and Tokyo celebrated a brilliant closing ceremony on 8-9th December. Several Trade Fairs displayed parallel events promoting IYOG2022 and the role of Glass in Society, in particular VITRUM 2021, GLASSMAN, in Monterrey, 11-12th May; Mir-Stekla in Moscow, 6-9th June; and Glasstech in Düsseldorf, 20-23th September, 2022. Glasspex/Glasspro in Mumbai and the China International Glass Industrial Technical Exhibition were moved to 2023.

Other worldwide activities included: a) a US Glass Day, Washington DC, April, b) an ‘Iberoamerican International Congress Women in Glass. Artists and Scientists’, Madrid, Spain in May, d) an International Festival of Art, Stourbridge, UK, August, e) a place within the Venice Biennale in September and f) dedicated issues of several glass Journals.

Events were organised locally with up to 10 000 activities, including ideas and materials such as posters, display boards, articles, comics and U tube clips. People from every corner of the planet contributed to the arts, the imaginative use of glass in architecture, its recyclability, and its role in ensuring our well-being. 

A key issue in the approval of IYOG2022 was the power of glass as a tool to build a more sustainable and a fairer planet. Glass containers represent the best example of circular economy, where one bottle is produced from other bottle, closing the circle of non-waste process. But glass in every application (glazings, vehicles windscreens, TV plasma glass, solar panels or turbine eolic blades) has also infinite lives. Flat glass industry is using more than 50% of recycled glazing, saving energy and much reducing CO₂ emissions. We have a long route to run to ensure the infinite lives of glass, using and reusing this magical material that is reborn each time with new lives and applications.