In the UK, we consume around one billion bottles of wine every year, generating 550,000 tonnes of waste glass in the process. Green glass, used for bottling wine, is currently imported in large quantities but very little is used in the UK recycling industry – a problem that has led to a growing surplus.  Where possible, the Carbon Trust is encouraging companies to consider the use of brown glass as an alternative.

According to figures released by British Glass, the average amount of recycled glass used in making new containers (not just alcohol drinks bottles) in the UK is 35.5%.

The figures also showed that an additional 250,000 tonnes of recycled glass were exported to other EU container makers, and that alternative markets such as aggregates consumed 280,000 tonnes of glass. Therefore the overall amount of glass recycled in the UK in 2005 as calculated by British Glass was 1,272,000 tonnes, or 50.8 per cent of the waste stream.

The use of glass in packaging has advantages: glass can be recycled many times without losing strength and is strong and durable helping ensure that products remain in top condition. However, it can be heavier than the alternatives, requiring more energy for transportation and reprocessing.

The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive sets recycling targets for the recycling of packaging materials including glass. The UK glass packaging companies already exceeded their obligations for 2008 and wish to maximise the use of recycled glass to support further progress towards the energy and emissions targets established by the other regulations already discussed. 

EU Directive 2004/12/EC set packaging recycling and recovery targets for different materials that Member States had to achieve by December 2008. The target for glass was 60%, and the UK slightly exceeded this target achieving 61.3%.  The UK Government has set "business" targets which must be met by obligated companies each year to ensure that the UK meets its national targets as set under the EU Directive. The UK business targets are higher than the Directive targets because under the UK system smaller businesses are exempt from the obligations and so only a proportion of all packaging is obligated whereas the EU directive targets apply to all packaging waste.

UK Business Targets: