The private waste management sector plays a crucial role in ensuring the effective collection for recycling of glass packaging, making it a key enabler of this circular economy. Waste management operators oversee that the collected glass is properly gathered, transported, and processed, so that it meets the high-quality standards required for closed loop recycling. They serve as an important link between households and the hospitality sector - responsible for separate collection at source – and the recycling industry which is transforming collected glass back into new bottles and jars.
“Joining Close the Glass Loop fits perfectly with our vision to double the EU’s Circular Material Use Rate in this decade, in particular developing circular value chain partnerships to connect the waste sector with industrial production”, said Paolo Campanella, Secretary General of FEAD. “Glass packaging is already a good example of a functioning circular economy, but even a material that can be recycled endlessly without any loss of its properties still requires industrial excellence in waste management to be collected and recycled”.
Through this partnership, members of FEAD will reinforce the implementation of Close the Glass Loop’s Roadmap to Optimise the Closed Loop Recycling of Glass Packaging, including the development of principles for good collection practices and the support for sorting and processing technologies while driving together the use of recycled glass over virgin materials.
“Working closer with FEAD within Close the Glass Loop will help to ensure that more glass packaging is collected and from the collected material, more secondary raw materials are being used in the production of new glass packaging”, stated Olivier Deweerdt, Secretary General of FERVER (European Glass Recyclers’ Federation) on behalf of Close the Glass Loop partners. “With this partnership, we can give extra confidence to municipalities and hospitality businesses to invest in the separate collection of glass packaging”.
By joining Close the Glass Loop, the members of FEAD will be working with 15 other European partners as well as 13 national platforms, strengthening industrial excellence in waste management and broadening the exchange of best practices on operational and practical solutions to increase the collection and recycling of glass packaging in Europe.
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