Archive for the ‘Reports’ Category

Targets stay the same whilst PRN prices plummet

Those who follow the PRN (Packaging Recovery Notes) value of recovered glass will have noticed a dramatic fall in recent months. At the time of writing (November 8 2010) it may have plummeted to as little as £4.75 per tonne, its lowest level in years. A further decline is certainly on the cards.

It will therefore come as no surprise that the price that can be commanded for cullet (recovered glass) has also fallen significantly. Unlike other packaging materials, a large percentage of the value of glass is linked to its PRN value, and the fall in PRN value has prompted the fall in the price for the recovered glass.

With the news that Defra has announced that it would not be raising glass packaging recycling targets from the current figure of 81% for 2011 and 2012, this situation looks set to continue for the foreseeable future. Some commentators have even suggested the possibility of charging to remove glass.

“Of course we are having to react accordingly to this unexpected PRN drop, “ says Berryman’s General Manager, Mick Keogh.

But because there is an increasing differential between the price of mixed glass and glass of individual colours, particularly clear and amber glass, he advises suppliers to look very carefully at the quality of the material they are offering.

“Now is a good time to review the way you recover and sort your glass packaging, and there is a particularly good case for colour separation.”

“Of course we are having to react accordingly to this unexpected PRN drop, “ says Berryman’s General Manager, Mick Keogh.

“Now is a good time to review the way you recover and sort your glass packaging, and there is a particularly good case for colour separation.”

Monday, November 8th, 2010 » Posted in Articles, News, Press Releases, Reports | No Comments »

Must We Say Goodbye To Glass?

70% of UK consumers want more glass packaging on shelves but struggle to find it in-store

A new campaign launched today that champions the health benefits of glass packaging will urge consumers to buy their food and drink in glass to ensure glass stays a choice on our shelves. Backing up the campaign is a major new European-wide survey by TNS that reveals most of us in the UK (70%) want the right to choose glass packaging, but increasingly find that some of our favourite sauces, ketchups and drinks are becoming harder to find in glass.

The campaign ‘Nothing to Hide’ , so called because glass has nothing to hide and nothing added, highlights that with glass packaging, no chemicals are needed to protect food and drink, making it the healthiest way to package our produce. The survey confirmed that 80% of UK consumers trust glass to protect food and drinks against chemicals. Bisphenol-A (BP-A), one of the most commonly found chemicals in non-glass packaging, continues to be a cause of concern amongst health experts and has been banned in France and Denmark for use in children’s food and drink containers.

Glass_08

Supporting ‘Nothing to Hide’ is TV presenter Julia Bradbury, known for her healthy lifestyle and love of all things natural “I’m a big fan of glass” says Julia “ and would hate to see it disappear from our supermarket shelves. I love that fact that glass is 100% pure and made from natural elements. I think we’re all used to it being on our shelves, so it’s easy to take for granted”.

The TNS survey, which interviewed 9500 consumers across 19 countries in Europe, confirms that consumers not only want the right to glass packaging, but they are willing to act accordingly. Nearly half (45%) of the UK respondents and 70% of all questioned said it is ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ that they will buy more products in glass to make sure that glass is more available in stores.

Dave Dalton, Chief Executive of British Glass, the UK trade body supporting the campaign, comments “Consumers should have the right to healthy packaging and the right to choose glass. By supporting the Nothing to Hide campaign, consumers will assert their right to this freedom of choice and urge producers, retailers and manufacturers to ensure that their favourite foods will always be available in glass.”

Consumers can find out more about the campaign and how to support it on the Nothing to Hide website www.nothingisgoodforyou.co.uk, (live for media from 30.9.10) and by signing up to the European consumer forum behind the campaign, Friends of Glass (www.friendsofglass.com).—– Original Message —–

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 » Posted in News, Press Releases, Reports | No Comments »

New figures for European glass recycling tick all the sustainability boxes

In 2008, an estimated 25.5 billion glass bottles and jars were recycled within the EU, corresponding to an average collection recycling rate of 65% for the EU27 countries, and nearly 11.5 million tonnes of glass packaging collected all over Europe (including Norway, Switzerland and Turkey).

“This data confirms the clear positive trend over the past year, when, thanks to the collaboration of citizens, a number of EU countries have reached the ambitious 60% collection target fixed by the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive,” says Dominique Tombeur, President of FEVE – the EU association for container glass.

In countries like Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Spain efforts were made to further increase the already good results, while the Czech Republic and Slovakia saw a steady improvement in the Eastern Region where collection and recycling systems can still be enhanced.

In Belgium and Sweden close to 100 % of glass bottles and jars put on the market were collected, making the vision of a zero waste packaging material an ambitious objective which, to be realized, has to rely on the strong cooperation of all stakeholders starting from the citizens, the policy makers and the industry.

At EU level, taking the EU15 countries as a reference, national consumption increased by 8% over the past ten years while glass packaging waste destined to other uses and to landfill decreased by 26%.

Thanks to the proven and longstanding closed loop bottle-to-bottle recycling system, recycled glass stands out as a real renewable material. glass packaging is 100% and endlessly recyclable: it always comes back to life in a new bottle or jar without any loss of quality. This means that, when glass reaches its ‘end of life’, most glass bottles or jars go back to the production cycle as substitutes for raw materials in a unique “cradle-to-cradle” recycling loop.

“The results reached in glass collection for recycling prove that glass packaging is a fully sustainable resource” says Dominique Tombeur. Unlike other materials a very high rate of collected glass is actually recycled in a new production cycle with an extremely positive impact on depletion of raw material savings, energy savings and emissions saving.”

Glass is best for environment
Recycling glass preserves natural resources: 1 tonne of recycled glass saves 1.2 tonnes of natural raw materials. And recycling glass saves energy too: for every 10% of recycled glass added in the production cycle, about 3% of energy is saved.

Consumers know about the environmental benefits of glass. When asked, 86% of consumers say they recycle their glass bottles and jars. If given the choice, a big majority of consumers (about 74%) state they would prefer glass packed products in almost all food and beverage categories. Made from some of the most abundant raw materials in nature – sand, soda ash and limestone – consumers also appreciate glass for its ability to preserve original taste and its impermeability, making it one of the safest and healthiest ways to store products with the least harmful impact on the environment.

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 » Posted in News, Recycling, Reports | No Comments »

Wrap report on mixed glass recycling

wrap logo A survey has been carried out for WRAP and Sainsbury’s by Glass Technology Services among 79 men and women across a range of ages to establish whether consumers would accept packaging with a slightly green hue in place of a clear glass one.

The objective is to increase the uptake of mixed recycled glass, which is becoming more prevalent through commingled collections.

The research showed that, in most cases, using a container with 90% mixed-colour content would not, did not, have a detrimental effect on the purchase decision. Whilst this is a welcome addition to the work that is taking place to find a more sustainable application for glass that is collected through commingled channels – much of which currently goes to road aggregate – there is obviously much discussion that still has to take place throughout the supply chain.

“Although we can colour separate good quality mixed glass collections from bottle banks and kerbside at our cullet treatment plants, we would draw particular attention to the likelihood of more pressure on the waste industry to reduce carbon, and that would require a return to colour separation within bottle banks or kerbside collection,” says Berryman’s general manager, Mick Keogh.

The report can be downloaded from www.wrap.org.uk

Friday, September 11th, 2009 » Posted in News, Reports | No Comments »

Should Carbon Footprinting be compulsory for Local Authorities?

According to the poll carried out by Sauce Consultancy, 85% of visitors to Futuresource believe it should be made compulsory for local authorities to calculate and publish the carbon footprint of their recycling and waste management services to ensure that recycling is carried out sustainably.

John Twitchen, Managing Director of Sauce Consultancy believes, ‘‘This issue is a sleeping giant, the industry needs to get ready for difficult questions about carbon footprinting. Of course, we recognise the difficulty in this but increasingly the public wants to know.”

The poll also looked at whether visitors felt that the media almost ruined the recycling industry with their biased reporting last year making residents feel that recycling was pointless. Only 43% blamed the media whilst 57% felt the industry needed to ‘get a grip’ which perhaps reflects the industry’s own self-image. Rosie Boycott picked up on this when presenting on ‘dispelling common myths’ at the Communications Hub on Thursday, commenting, “I think you have a really negative view of how you are doing. I think you are doing really well, the recycling message is getting through.”

When asked whether the recession has sparked the potential for a wider long-term social change in general attitudes to our ‘throw-away culture’, 67% of those polled felt that people are taking a long hard look at what consumerism means and 33% felt that people are just going for the cheapest short-term decision. In line with this, when asked if visitors found that inspiring behaviour change has become a greater challenge since the start of the recession, 66% said it’s even more important now than before and 34% said it’s further down the list for people.

130 visitors representing local authorities, the recycling and waste management industry and other interested parties took part in Sauce’s poll over the three days of Futuresource.

Friday, July 17th, 2009 » Posted in News, Reports | No Comments »