ACR+ joins Close the Glass Loop initiative
The Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management (ACR+) has joined FEVE and other founding Close the Glass Loop members FERVER, EXPRA, Unesda Soft Drinks Europe, Municipal Waste Europe, Eurocities and spiritsEUROPE in their commitment to achieve 90% of glass packaging collection for recycling by 2030.
ACR+ represents 1100 municipalities and 52 local and regional authorities. Thanks to the co-operation of its members, ACR+ will have a key role in gathering data to build an overview of how the glass collection and sorting chain works in EU Member States, cross-analysing for national frameworks and local waste practices. This intelligence gathering work will enrich the Close the Glass Loop campaign and will encourage key stakeholders to focus more on end-of-use glass packaging management as a key sustainable resource that needs to be better exploited.
“We can work shoulder to shoulder with Close the Glass Loop as we have the same mission: Making our cities circular and turning waste into sustainable resources for a more efficient EU Circular Economy” comments Françoise Bonnet, Secretary General of ACR+. “Joining the platform is an opportunity to bring together the different players of the glass loop and more sharply define the role of local and regional bodies. This could open up new initiatives and ways of working together.”
Although household glass packaging collection is a step of a single stream system that is relatively simple compared to other municipal waste collection systems, there are several hurdles to overcome, resulting in 24% of glass containers put on the market being lost.
According to FEVE, municipalities are crucial partners in meeting higher objectives on glass collection and recycling through source-separated waste collection systems. In many countries, municipalities are fully responsible to operate collection and are essential players in interacting with the citizens when they are disposing of waste.
To achieve high recycling rates, we have to make sure collected glass is of good enough quality” comments Adeline Farrelly, FEVE Secretary General. “ACR+ members are invaluable partners in collection and sorting infrastructures. Their support is fundamental to eliminate residual waste as much as possible and enable bottle-to-bottle recycling.”
