20 Years of Recycling Is Good News for Glass
As Recycle Week celebrates its 20th anniversary this week (16–22 October), the glass industry is also celebrating 20 years of recycling progress in the UK, with double the amount of glass bottles and jars now being recycled by households.
According to UK Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the glass recycling rate stood at 37.5% in 2003. This was the year when Tony Blair was still PM, Harry Potter fans were gobbling up Order of the Phoenix, superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo debuted for Manchester United and petrol was a mere £0.75/litre.
Fast forward 20 years and today’s latest available Defra figures show that a whopping 73.6% of glass packaging now finds it way back into the system, which helps to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions.
Victoria Adams, Communications Manager at British Glass comments “It’s very encouraging to see just how many householders now understand the importance of recycling their glass packaging. We’re keen to keep building on this momentum and with everyone’s help, aim to hit a recycling rate of 90% by 2030”.
The theme of this year’s Recycle Week is all about ‘Missed Capture’. Householders are being urged to locate items around the home that they might not realise can be recycled. For glass, this includes glass bottles and jars containing perfume, medicines, moisturisers, foundations and creams. These can be recycled alongside food and drink bottles and jars on the doorstep or at local glass banks.
