Could new EU packaging proposals speed up a real circular economy for packaging? 

Glass is an endlessly recyclable material – and more than that, it’s a recycling success story. Over the last sixty years, glass recycling has increased to reach record collection rates of 80% in the EU, making it one of the most recycled packaging materials. With more recycled glass available for new production loops, we can cut back on virgin raw materials and CO2 emissions and save energy: these days, the average glass bottle or jar contains 52% recycled content. And these figures are only going one way: up.

Supporting EU ambitions on recyclability

With its PPWR proposal, the European Commission has taken a significant step towards ensuring that only packaging that is recyclable can be placed on the EU market:

• All packaging placed on the EU market should be recyclable by design by 2030.
• Harmonised criteria for ‘recyclable packaging’ should be introduced, to ensure that packaging is sufficiently and effectively collected, sorted and recycled in practice and at scale.
• All packaging would be graded with A – E recyclability performance grades (with packaging falling under grade E phased out as of 2030), which would form a basis for eco-modulation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees (i.e. fees charged to producers would be modified based on the recyclability of their products).

We strongly support this ambition on recyclability, but believe that we can even go a step further. Closed loop recycling has a key role to play in a well-functioning Circular Economy that keeps resources productive in the economy for as long as possible. We regret that closed-loop recycling is not acknowledged as a key measure to guarantee that more packaging placed on the market is made from recycled material in a continuous loop – rather than being produced from virgin raw materials. It is a guarantee that the packaging placed on the market has the highest possible recycled content.

What’s more, not all packaging materials are equally recyclable. New regulations should recognise the achievements of ‘permanent materials’, including glass, that incentivise efforts to reduce waste reduction by promoting closed-loop recycling, of a higher quality.

Not all packaging materials are created equal

As a permanent material, glass – with steel and aluminium – can be recycled endlessly in a closed loop without ever losing its intrinsic properties. Going further, glass is also virtually inert, meaning that no matter what the glass packaging contained in its past life, it will always be a food-safe packaging material once recycled. These unique qualities mean that glass can easily exist in a closed-loop recycling system, and it becomes just as good the next time around.

Boosting collection

Through convening the entire value chain, Close the Glass Loop aims to achieve the goal of a 90% collection rate for glass packaging by 2030 to help meet the EU’s circularity and climate neutrality commitments by collecting more and better glass to be recycled.

The PPWR requirements on packaging recyclability should be backed up by measures triggering investments in collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure across Europe. The way packaging is collected directly impacts the quantity and quality of the collected materials that can be recycled. As a result, separate collection and sorting is the prerequisite to guaranteeing high-quality recycling processes and to fulfil the recyclability criteria.

So what is needed to speed up the transition to a truly circular economy for packaging?

The time is right for policymakers to:

• Include closed-loop recycling in A-E recyclability performance grades (as A and B grades), to bring more recycled packaging onto the market, and lower EPR fees as an incentive for progress.
• Be more ambitious on what closed loop recycling, high quality recycling, and recycled at scale mean. This includes bringing forward the timeline for recyclability criteria to 2030, not 2035.
• Ensure that packaging is being collected, sorted and recycled at scale in Member States representing at least 90% of the EU population (higher than the 75% in current proposal).
• Acknowledge the existence of Permanent Materials which never lose their intrinsic properties and allow for high-quality recycling within closed-loop systems – helping to cut back on use of virgin raw materials.
• Further promote separate collection by setting a mandatory 90% collection for recycling rate for all packaging materials.

With European legislation imposing increasingly stringent requirements on recycling and on-pack sustainability information, brands and retailers must ensure the genuine recyclability of their products, and effectively communicate on this. PPWR proposals represented an untapped opportunity to put recyclability front and centre.

It’s time for EU policymakers to be more daring on defining what recycling means for the packaging we all rely on, each and every day. In doing so, we can make the PPWR a catalyst to incentivise producers and the rest of the value chain to boost how much glass is collected and recycled – bringing us closer to the goal of 90% collection by 2030, and bringing down packaging waste in the EU. Because today, we don’t have time to waste.