The spirit of partnership: The Spirits Sector joins “Close the Glass Loop” sustainability platform

Brussels, 27 April 2020

The European spirits sector – represented by spiritsEUROPE partners with “Close the Glass Loop” to boost glass packaging collection to 90% by 2030 and put more recycled glass back in the bottle to bottle glass packaging loop.

“With 100% of raw materials for spirit distillates sourced directly from nature, sustainable production processes are in our sector’s DNA and at the heart of what we do. In line with this, European spirit producers understand and consistently work towards reducing the environmental impact of our activities.” says Ulrich Adam, spiritsEUROPE Director General. “In particular, we address the use of resources such as the re-use of by-products from distillation as feed product for farm animals as well as the challenge of reusable and recyclable packaging. “The Close the Glass Loop” initiative complements our Drinksinitiatives.eu we undertake across Europe with our partners to make our value chain more sustainable ⁽³⁾ ”.

The “Close the Glass Loop” – an initiative by the European container glass industry – aims to unite the glass packaging value chain under a multi-stakeholder European programme supported by national level action plans. spiritsEUROPE companies and national association members will cooperate with the national glass value chains across Europe to improve the collection and recycling of glass packaging.

“Spirits is one of our leading customers, with most products packed in glass. We are proud to work together to increase bottle-to-bottle recycling”, stated Adeline Farrelly, FEVE Secretary General. “The collaboration with spiritsEUROPE will strengthen our Circular Economy model with significant sustainability benefits as increasing recycling rates has also the effect of reducing CO2 emissions and energy consumption as well as diverting waste from landfill”.

All consumer goods industries are being called upon by the European Commission to collect, recycle and reuse packaging. Each country will need to achieve much more ambitious recycling targets by 2030. The new emphasis is on actual recycling and not collection.  For glass, it will be 75% by 2030.

See the full version of the press statement here