End of Waste (EoW) criteria for glass have been adopted by the European Commission (EC) in a move which has been welcomed by the glass industry.
The criteria appear to say that for EoW to be achieved, the glass cullet must be of a quality suitable for re-melting into bottles or other products such as glass fibre.
EoW criteria specify when certain waste ceases to be waste and obtain the status of a product or a secondary raw material.
The criteria were drawn up by the EC’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) - the European Union’s (EU) scientific and technical research laboratory - and state that glass cullet must comply with a customer specification, an industry specification or a standard for direct use in the production of glass substances or objects by re-melting in glass manufacturing facilities.
The criteria place limits on the amount of contaminants such as metals, organics and stones which can be contained in glass cullet in order for it to be classed as a secondary raw material.
According to the JRC, it is estimated that more than 80% of glass collected across Europe will meet EoW criteria after proper sorting and treatment, to be re-melted into newly manufactured glass products.