The Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management (ACR+) has joined a campaign which aims to achieve 90% glass packaging collection for recycling by 2030.

The ACR+ has joined the Close the Glass Loop campaign alongside founding members FEVE, FERVER, EXPRA, UNESDA, MWE, EUROCITIES and SPIRITSEUROPE.

ACR+ represents 1100 municipalities and 52 local and regional authorities. It will put its network at the disposal of the Close the Glass Loop platform.

ACR+ will have a key role in gathering data to build an overview of how the glass collection and sorting chain work in the Member States, cross-analysing for this national frameworks and local waste practices.

This intelligence gathering work will enrich the Close the Glass Loop campaign and encourage stakeholders to focus more on end-of-use glass packaging management as a sustainable resource that needs to be better exploited.

Françoise Bonnet, Secretary General of ACR+ said: We can work shoulder to shoulder with Close the Glass Loop as we have the same mission: making our cities circular and turning waste into sustainable resources for a more efficient EU Circular Economy.

He added: “The recently announced Circular Economy Action Plan welcomes synergies between the industry and public authorities and it puts in place important resources to drive the implementation of local circular economies.”

Although household glass packaging collection is a step of a single-stream system which is relatively simpler than for other municipal waste collection systems, there are several hurdles today resulting in 24% of glass containers put on the market being lost.

Municipalities are crucial partners in meeting higher objectives on glass collection and recycling through source-separated waste collection systems.

In many countries, municipalities are fully responsible to operate collection, and are essential players in interacting with the citizens when they are disposing of waste. Municipalities know best the territory and the diverse cultural and social habits of citizens in terms of waste management.

Adeline Farrelly, FEVE Secretary General, said:ACR+ members’ are invaluable partners in collection and sorting infrastructures. Their support is fundamental to eliminate residual waste as much as possible and enable bottle-to-bottle recycling.”