The UK is looking to reach a 60% glass packaging waste recovery target by 2008, under the terms of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive.
The warning over the effectiveness of the PRN system came as British Glass welcomed the government's recent consultation paper on possible changes (see letsrecycle.com story). The glass industry has warned it would be “over ambitious” to rely on the PRN system alone to provide the investment needed in the collection infrastructure.
The consultation paper proposes changes such as scrapping the 19% recycling target for packaging materials in favour of different recycling targets for each material. The proposed changes would aim to help the UK reach the European material-specific recycling targets of 60% for glass, 60% for paper and board, 50% for metals, 22.5% for plastics and 15% for wood.
Commenting on the consultation, British Glass director general David Workman said: “If the consultation helps create a higher, more stable PRN price, then it is a positive step forward. However, it would be over ambitious to rely solely on PRN revenue to increase recycling. We estimate that 200 million of investment in collection infrastructure will be needed from local and central government to reach the new 60 per cent glass target. This is in stark contrast to the 5 to 7 million of PRN revenue so far generated annually by glass recycling.”
The amount of glass packaging recycled in the UK grew by just 1% last year, from 736,000 to 747,000 tonnes in 2002. This 34% figure is a long way from the 60% European target set for 2008.
Competition
The amount of glass packaging recycled into new glass packaging fell last year for the first time since 1977, from 587,000 tonnes in 2001 to 537,000 in 2002. This has been put down to the increased competition from alternative markets such as aggregates and a lack of investment in infrastructure.
Mr Workman said that a lot of investment had gone into alternative markets for glass, but that the glass tonnage for these alternative markets should have come from new collections, rather than taking material away from the closed-loop container process.
“The consultation document proposes a target of 46% next year for glass, an increase of over 250,000 tonnes. While there is capacity to use this material, how will the collection infrastructure be put in place to collect it?” he asked.
The glass container industry sees funding from outside the PRN system as the key to increasing recycling rates, such as local authority recycling funds from DEFRA, the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly. Mr Workman said achieving the new targets would require better co-ordination of local authority and industry targets and a rapid increase in the Landfill Tax.
Mr Workman said: “The challenge is for everyone to increase the amount of glass collected. Markets are clearly available to take double the current levels of recycled glass. The container industry, the main market for recycled glass at 80%, has the ambition and capacity to double its use of recycled glass to 1.1 million tonnes using current technology.”
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