British Glass – Comment on Simpler Recycling Reform
Dave Dalton, CEO of British Glass, said: “We welcome the inclusion of glass to the Simpler Recycling reform, as one of the recyclable waste materials to be collected from households across England. Ensuring that all households have access to kerbside glass collections is a positive step in helping to increase collection rates and facilitating a more convenient process for consumers. However, whilst this reform will introduce simpler collections for households, it will actually make the recycling process more complex and less efficient as more dry waste materials are mixed together."
“With glass being 100% recyclable, we must ensure that this increased glass collection also leads to increased recycling rates."
“We know that glass recycling will be hindered by co-mingling all dry waste, as this reduces the effectiveness of the glass recycling process through contamination with other waste streams. Metals can be co-mingled with glass with little issue. PET beverage bottles can also be co-mingled with glass, but this does come with some challenges and should be avoided where possible. Other materials should not be co-mingled with glass for collection as it could massively reduce the effectiveness of recycling these materials. We therefore call on local authorities to explore options to collect glass separately, or only with a few other dry waste materials, to ensure that glass recycling rates continue to grow. We encourage this to continue rather than opting for a single bin for all dry waste.”
