Versatile and the potential to be recycled indefinitely, the UK government has set high targets for glass recycling. Recorra’s business glass collections and commercial glass recycling services are here to help businesses close the loop on glass and keep compliant with changing policy. This blog will outline how Recorra recycles glass, and how your business can be compliant with upcoming legislation changes
Glass is one of the most versatile materials used today. Known for its durability, glass is perfect for storing everything from food and beverages to cosmetics and cleaning products. But what is it that Recorra loves most about glass? We love that it is infinitely recyclable, meaning it can be reused endlessly without losing quality – the perfect circular economy material.
At Recorra, we understand the importance of glass recycling. The process of producing virgin glass is ‘energy and resource expensive’, with its global carbon footprint in 2022 estimated at 95 million metric tonnes, the same amount of carbon emitted from powering over 12.7 million homes in a single year.
Per tonne of glass recycled, the equivalent of a flight from the UK to New York—around 580-590kg of CO2 – is saved from entering the atmosphere. This is why recycling is the key to decarbonising the glass industry.
At Recorra, we make it easy by offering tailored collection options to suit businesses of any size to recycle and reuse as much glass as possible.
Per tonne of glass recycled, the equivalent CO₂ of a flight from the UK to New York is saved from entering the atmosphere.
Many waste companies and local authorities collect glass as a part of a mixed recycling stream. When mixed up with other recyclables it becomes difficult to segregate a clean enough stream of glass to be turned back into bottles. As a result, glass collected with other recyclables is often recycled into aggregate for the construction industry, meaning virgin glass must still be produced to replace the glass lost in the value chain. That’s why at Recorra, we collect glass as a separately to ensure as much as possible can be turned back into bottles.
Through commercial glass recycling within the UK, Recorra are cutting down carbon emissions and helping produce recycled products in a circular, closed loop system. Our glass collections are broken down and supplied as cullet to recycled glass manufacturers to be used again and again.
Glass is not perfect though. The raw materials used to produce virgin glass require extracting from the earth’s surface, and smelting these materials is a high energy and water expensive process.
This is why glass recycling is so important.
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Incoming legislation on recycling and packaging (Simpler Recycling and Extended Producer Responsibility) will see big changes in how businesses recycle and will most likely influence which materials used by producers/suppliers.
Simpler Recycling Legislation will mean that by 31st March 2025, all businesses with 10 or more employees will be legally required to recycle glass if producing any glass waste on a regular basis (e.g. once a week), among other new rules.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is also incentivising producers to use materials that can be recycled. This legislation will shift the cost of disposal onto packaging manufacturers, incentivising them to use more recyclable materials or reduce packaging. We believe this will lead to a greater adoption of easily recyclable materials for packaging, like glass.
Many companies are turning to glass packaging, with the likes of beauty giant Este Lauder Companies recently revealing their multiyear research in collaboration with Strategic Materials, the US’s largest glass packaging recycler. This is a huge step for a country that, in 2018, dumped 7 million tonnes of glass into landfill sites.
WRAP, in association with British Glass, have set a particularly ambitious target for glass. They want to see 90% of all glass manufactured to be collected for recycling @by 2030 . They have released a ‘roadmap’ setting out how the UK plans to navigate towards this target to have 90% of all glass manufactured to be collected for recycling.
Glass bottles make up most glass waste, but there is exciting potential with glass bottle recycling having the capabilities of being completely closed loop and ‘bottle to bottle’. British Glass have emphasised the importance of increasing remelt and creating higher value glass for recycled glass bottles. Creating higher quality materials requires reducing contamination at the source. Our individual glass recycling stream, easy to read signage and dedicated contamination guide all help our customers to not only stay compliant, but to achieve high quality glass recycling for a circular economy.
These targets are achievable and provide hope for a wider move towards circularity, with both industry and government ready to make sustainable changes.
Even though changes to legislation can be confusing, many of our customers will already be compliant. And for those who aren’t, Recorra are here to help our customers navigate the changes smoothly.
By the end of March 2025, businesses with more than ten full time employees will be required to recycle glass separately to other mixed recycling. Recorra’s specific glass waste collection means our customers are already compliant and shrinking costs while boosting their recycling rates and minimising contamination.
Whether you are a small business throwing out a few glass jars every week, or a bar overflowing with glass bottles every night, Recorra have you covered. We offer small volume crates holding the equivalent of up to 20 wine bottles or pay-as-you-throw kerbside sacks for our London clients. For those bigger glass generators, we can provide from 240 litre to 1100 litre wheelie bins.
Visit our glass page and take a look at our Simpler Recycling guide for more information.
