Demand for cullet to use in aggregates production shows that the UK's system for developing packaging waste recovery is working well. This is the view (in January 2002) of Valpak director Graeme Carus who says that the opening up of the aggregates market for cullet is a natural consequence of the development work carried out by Valpak using funding from PRNs (packaging waste recovery notes).
In contrast, some bottlemakers and recyclers consider that until higher cullet usage is achieved in bottlemaking it is wrong to send glass – and especially clear and amber material – for aggregate production.
Valpak's development work has focused on two areas. One is from local authorities. The second is from licensed premises such as hotels, pubs and clubs from where up to 600,000 tonnes of glass in the form of bottles is currently landfilled. The development work is being carried out by Valpak's recycle-more-glass team who operate an in-house contracts and administration service using independent contractors and national companies such as Severnside.
Divert
Valpak argues that recycle-more-glass will ensure that the manufacturers of glass containers continue to be able to access as much glass as they need. 
“Our aim is to divert a large proportion of the 1.6 million tonnes of consumer glass that currently goes to landfill into the new end markets. If the UK is to increase its recycling activity, every type of end market must be developed and capacity increased overall.”
Valpak had had an on-off relationship with direct involvement in glass recycling in the past. It first looked at glass in the summer of 1998 but the PRN values fell. It was then that the British Licensed Retailers Association had a collection scheme which was one of the few industry led responses on packaging. Brewers were charging for the service but it ran into problems with the selling off of licensed premises.
Mr Carus is upbeat about the compliance scheme's work with licensed premises today. It offers a free, mixed colour collection service. The scheme says it can afford to run a free service because “we have the backing of the businesses who are members of Valpak and who are obliged by law to pay for packaging to be recycled.” Researched in 2000 an agreement followed with aggregates firm RMC to take most of the material from March 2001. The first collection vehicles, which are owned by Valpak, were on the road last summer. Valpak is now also supplying the cullet to other aggregates makers such as Days and Lafarge.
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