Despite the fact that record levels of glass are being collected for recycling, industry association British Glass says “no one should be fooled” about the difficulty in meeting European glass packaging recycling targets set for 2008.
And, the UK glass industry sees clear glass as the biggest potential for growth in recycling.
Along with encouraging more local authorities to collect glass from households, trade association British Glass is hoping to encourage retailers to push their suppliers to use clear glass for imported wines, rather than green glass.
Chris Scholey, British Glass director of strategy and communication, said: “We are hoping to encourage brand owners and retailers to switch imported wine from green to clear glass and also reduce the weight of imported wine bottles.”
Potential
The reason clear glass has more potential for recycling is that the UK has a minimal domestic wine industry, and most products made here are packaged in either clear or brown glass. However, most imported wine comes in green glass – which dominates material handed in through recycling schemes.
Mr Scholey, who has worked in the glass industry for 20 years and was the managing director of Rexam Glass in Barnsley until its sale to Rockware, has been taken on in a caretaker capacity for British Glass after the departure of Andy Hartley to Yorkshire Forward.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, he said his work for British Glass would entail three key strands – encouraging local authorities to collect more glass and separate colours at source; encouraging waste minimisation of imported glass packaging; and, encouraging retailers to buy more wine in clear glass.
CSR
Mr Scholey explained: “About 80% of white wine is in green glass – but the fact that 15 to 20% is in clear proves there's no reason why it shouldn't be in clear. There's even some red wines in clear bottles, from California. This is a good argument for retailers – particularly if they are all interested in their green credentials and corporate social responsibility.”
Despite the colour imbalance in the UK, there is currently no actual shortage of markets for green glass because material that cannot be used by UK industry is being exported. However, Mr Scholey said the concern is that in the long-term, markets abroad might dry up.
Mr Scholey is also vice chairman of Defra's influential Advisory Committee on Packaging, which is investigating the UK's growing dependence on exports for meeting EU Packaging Directive recovery targets (see letsrecycle.com story).
He said: “It all comes down to how long the export market is sustainable for. Other European countries, which currently receive our exported glass, also have to increase their own glass recycling to meet the EU targets. So how long until those markets stop taking UK glass is the issue.”
Receptive
British Glass is hoping that the recent Courtauld agreement, in which 13 major retailers pledged to reduce the amount of packaging waste arising in the household waste stream (see letsrecycle.com story), means retailers will be receptive to the plea to switch to clear glass.
Figures collected by British Glass reveal that total glass collections in the first six months of this year amounted to about 619,000 tonnes, an increase of 22% on the same period in 2004. The figures also reveal that exports of glass also rose to 115,000 tonnes compared to 75,000 for the first half of 2004.
Mr Scholey said everyone involved in glass recycling had done a “great job” because the UK is ahead of national targets. But, he warned that it is “going to get tougher to maintain progress”.
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