New guidance for prospective commercial glass collectors

According to WRAP, about 9 million worth of waste glass goes to landfill each year that could be turned into new glass. The government-funded market development organisation says there is room for increased collections of glass, specifically from existing providers of recycling or trade waste services, as well as entrepreneurs interested in exploring new opportunities.

The new toolkit is intended to help these companies increase yields or start collections, with sections covering:

• The practicalities – how the licensed retail trade is structured, how to recruit licensed retail premises into the business, what can be collected and how
• The service – how to overcome the barriers and sell the benefits of glass recycling as well as produce relevant contracts
• The economics – how many licensed retail premises are needed to make the business viable, what quality of glass should be collected and who can it be sold onto

Andy Dawe, materials sector manager for WRAP's glass programme, said: “When you calculate the volumes of glass going to waste in monetary terms, 9 million is an unbelievable amount. The market is a real opportunity to be exploited and will doubtless continue to grow as waste management increases.

“The toolkit is easy to use and includes a section that calculates how profitable it could be for a company looking to set up a collection service. We have also taken the opportunity to include a section for licensed premises themselves to highlight the potential waste disposal cost savings. WRAP truly believes this is a win-win opportunity for all involved,” he added.

Toolkit
Primarily, the toolkit is aimed at existing providers of recycling or trade waste collection services such as waste management companies and local authorities. However, entrepreneurs, community groups and other companies looking to establish a new glass recycling collection service will also find it very helpful WRAP said.

The toolkit can also be used by licensed premises to establish what effect glass recycling could have on the bottom line in terms of waste disposal costs.

Earlier this year time was called on the national programme of glass collections from licensed premises – Recycle More Glass. The operator of the scheme, Berryman, said the scheme had a lack of support from pubs and breweries making it economically unviable (see letsrecycle.com story).