Zero Waste Europe calls for glass “reinvention” for reuse economy

26 Jun 2023 --- EU policies, such as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), should take the lead in encouraging glass producers and container users to adopt reusable glass and implement measures that support high-quality recycling, asserts Zero Waste Europe (ZWE).

To effectively contribute to environmental sustainability goals, glass must move away from single-use applications and focus on reuse systems. ZWE says that glass packaging plays a crucial role in the ongoing transition toward sustainable systems. 

One of the challenges for achieving a reuse economy is the lack of a playing field between single-use and reusable packaging “and this is not only a barrier for glass, but also for other materials to move toward reuse systems,” Larissa Copello, Packaging & Reuse policy officer at ZWE tells Packaging Insights. 

ZWE stresses material substitution should be avoided and glass reuse must be installed. A recent ZWE-Eunomia decarbonisation study found that single-use glass is the packaging with the highest environmental footprint and the organization believes the PPWR should set the path for replacing single-use glass with reusables in the coming years.

Single-use glass is proven to have the highest overall environmental footprint compared to other single-use materials. On the other hand, reusable glass offers the greatest potential to reduce environmental impacts: reusable glass bottles produce 85% fewer carbon emissions than their single-use counterparts, 75% fewer carbon emissions than plastic (PET) and 57% fewer carbon emissions than aluminum cans.

Reinventing glass
The PPWR revision needs to address all packaging and packaging waste from a material-neutral approach, stresses ZWE. It is “crucial” to avoid material substitution, such as transitioning from single-use plastics to single-use paper, aluminum, or glass, or from heavier to lighter packaging materials.

ZWE proposes the following measures reduce single-use glass and increase the use of reusable glass:

• Material specific waste prevention targets with special and proportionate targets on single-use glass given its highest environmental impact.
• Set stronger sectoral-specific reuse targets and expand to other key market segments.
• Glass beverage containers should be included in deposit return programs with the obligation to meet 90% collection target.
• Include recycled content targets of 65% of the content of the packaging placed on the market (2030-2039), and at least 85% of the content of the packaging placed on the market (from 2040).

ZWE stresses that glasses’ potential is not being fully realized in the industry’s current applications. It is time to “reinvent” glass, says the organization. A well-designed DRS implementation could see significant improvements to the collection of glass, says Copello. 

Reducing material loss
Copello explains that the current costs borne by packaging producers within extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes are low compared to the upfront investments in reuse systems, including for the implementation of DRS, “so it is more economically beneficial for them to stick with such a system.” 

“But the reality is that EPR schemes do not cover the full costs of managing single-use packaging waste. Also, there are many gaps within the EPR system.”

She continues that according to a study on the circularity of glass, the biggest losses of glass material occur at the collection stage. In both France and the UK, about 30% of glass material is lost.

A well-designed DRS implementation could see significant improvements to the collection of glass packaging. Existing DRS systems for glass in Europe achieved 84%-89% collection rates for glass beverage bottles in 2019, and have since improved in some cases (e.g. Finland reported a 98% glass collection rate in 2021) as per study findings.

“Such systems should be implemented for reusable glass, given that it is a material with very high potential reusability – reusable glass bottles reach 25-30 cycles on average,” asserts Copello.

“One example of how to address this lack of playing field between single-use and reuse systems for packaging is to have a dedicated fund from EPR systems to support the implementation of reuse systems for packaging, including DRS for glass and other materials.”

By Natalie Schwertheim