Latest industry data on glass recycling shows that the average glass recycling rate in the EU28 is steady at 74%, states FEVE.
More than 11.6 million tons of glass bottles are collected and recycled into food grade quality material for the production of new glass containers.
Countries such as Belgium, Slovenia and Sweden, with excellent separate collection systems, continue to outperform beyond 95%.
While glass stands alone as the most circular packaging solution, maintaining permanent quality even when recycled, the reality is that there is still an important collection gap to fill in many EU countries.
“Our industry is mobilised to fill the gap to 100% EU glass recycling because recycled glass is our most important raw material”, said Adeline Farrelly, FEVE Secretary General.
“We hope the new packaging recycling targets will give the necessary boost to all EU countries to invest in closed loop glass collection.”
Real recycling is a balancing act between developing materials that are recyclable, and markets that are open to use recycled material.
“More effort is being put at European level to use recycled material for new food packaging”, said Jean-Paul Judson, FEVE Public Affairs Manager.
“Recycled glass is of food grade quality. It goes straight into new food or beverage containers. We want to engage with policymakers to make this model the reference”.
