The UK government is to lower business glass recycling targets after almost half of those responding to a consultation on the subject voiced support for the proposal.

Industry responses to a government consultation on amending current Packaging Regulations, published today (20 March), show widespread agreement in lowering business recycling targets for glass packaging to 75 per cent (down from 81 per cent).

As well as lowering the recycling rate for 2014, government will also amend the regulations to see the targets rise by one per cent per year, hitting 77 per cent by 2016.

Running from 17 December 2013 to 17 January 2014, the ‘Glass Packaging Recycling: Proposed changes to Business Target’ consultation sought views on proposals to reduce the recycling targetsfor glass packaging in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (as set out in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 and the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Obligations (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2012).

It followed on from evidence published in October 2013 by WRAP and Valpak, that Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI) are currently ‘over-achieving’ against the EU’s glass packaging recycling target, with the figures used to calculate GB and NI’s achievement of the target being ‘some 350,000 tonnes’ too high.

As a result, the government claims the glass targets in the regulations could be reduced from the current target of 81 per cent, to a level that ‘would still achieve EU targets’, whilst continuing to ‘maximise benefits for consumers, business and the environment’.

Industry responses

A total of 62 responses were received to the consultation: 13 producer compliance schemes, 22 producers, three reprocessors, six advisory organisations, 13 trade associations, and five regional/local governments.

Regarding amending the glass recycling targets, the most popular option was ‘option 2(a)’: to ‘lower the glass packaging recycling business targets to 75 per cent and maintain the split between remelt and other applications at the same percentages’, with 49 per cent of respondents selecting it as their most preferred option.

The second most preferred option was to ‘lower the glass packaging recycling business target to 75 per cent and amend the split between remelt and other applications’, with 23 per cent of respondents listing it as their most preferred option.

In addition, a ‘hybrid’ option was suggested by a number of respondents as an alternative to those that government proposed. This option would reduce the target from 81 per cent to 75 per cent in 2014, and then increase one per cent per year back up to 77 per cent.

The consultation respondents who suggested this option felt that the initial step-change would introduce the desired reduction of glass tonnage from the market straight away, but by increasing the target over the subsequent years the incentive to invest in the system would be maintained.

The general consensus was that the WRAP/Valpak ‘GlassFlow Report’ that produced a new estimate of glass packaging waste arisings based on of the glass market, was the ‘best available data’, with 57 per cent of respondents stating they agreed with that statement.

New glass recycling targets for businesses

In response to the consultation outcome, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has decided that the new glass recycling targets for businesses will be set as follows: 75 per cent for 2014; 76 per cent for 2015; and 77 per cent for 2016 and onwards.

Government claims these yearly increases reflect their ‘continuing ambition on increasing recycling and promoting a more resource efficient economy’.

It also claims these targets reflect ‘new and better’ evidence of both the total levels of glass packaging being placed on the market/available for recycling, and the proportion available for remelt.

The decision to proceed with this ‘hybrid’ option supposedly provides ‘the best of both worlds’– reducing the target with immediate effect to a level which should have a ‘very real impact’ on glass Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) prices. However, Defra argues that by setting an incrementally increasing glass target, it gives industry a ‘clear investment signal‘.

Next Steps

Defra is set to bring amended regulations forward to the ‘earliest possible’ timetable and the recycling targets will apply retrospectively for compliance year 2014.

The regulations will apply to England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland will bring forward regulations in parallel.

Read more about the consultation.