Building glass recycling initiatives welcomed

Glass for Europe has welcomed the adoption by the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee of its proposals to improve the Circular Economy Package.

Glass for Europe considers that the reports rightly address longstanding bottlenecks in the recycling of building glass. 

The vast majority of end-of-life building glass, used in windows and facades, is not properly sorted at source in Europe which renders its recycling in new glass products difficult. To increase the recycling rates of its products and manufacturing sustainability, Glass for Europe commissioned a study by Deloitte Sustainability on the present situation in the management and recycling of end-of-life building glass in Europe.

Bertrand Cazes, Secretary General of Glass for Europe, said: “This study provided many findings which helped us identifying the necessary conditions to render the recycling of building glass both environmentally and economically viable across Europe’s regions.” 

Glass for Europe welcomed suggestions endorsed by the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee recently when it addressed the identified bottlenecks and create conditions for new recycling initiatives to emerge. For instance, Glass for Europe supports the incentive to generalise pre-demolition audits and the call on a harmonisation of the status of by-products.

However, Glass for Europe regrets the lack of support for initiatives aiming at granting free access to container parks to professionals.