There is a customer demand now from the brand owners and the wider supply chain. Many brand owners are committing to net zero and therefore their supply chain needs to fall in line and get to net zero. Packaging is a fiercely competitive area so we have to try and achieve the most sustainable packaging that we can. That's the vision: to have the most sustainable packaging material out there.
There are a lot of positives to each type of packaging, and there are also negatives as well. One of the things to consider for glass, versus other materials, is its weight. Looking forward, when transport runs on hydrogen, electric or biofuels the impact of transport will be drastically reduced; this is likely to happen before 2040. When the industry switches to low carbon fuels and we are achieving higher levels of recycling glass will help deliver a circular economy and a low carbon footprint.
A number of members have been involved in trials of biofuels and look to hydrogen to test the technical feasibility of some of the potential Net Zero fuels of the future.
The strategy is set out in the net zero report.
One of the prime areas is for us to speak with the government to make sure that they're aware of the challenges we have in transitioning to Net Zero.
One of the prime areas is for us to speak with the government to make sure that they're aware of the challenges we have in transitioning to Net Zero.
The strategy also informs stakeholders of the glass industry options for achieving net zero, addresses the potential barriers to decarbonisation of the glass industry, and informs the UK and devolved administrations on how the glass industry will contribute to achieving net zero and the circular economy.
We work with a lot of academia and universities, and Glass Futures as well. We're working with them to identify what the barriers are, and then help to overcome some of those barriers, whether that's through research and innovation, or pushing the government to support our transition to Net Zero.
The big barrier is the cost of alternative fuels, such as biofuels and hydrogen. Using renewable electricity is an option and the UK glass industry could electrify our furnaces by buying electric furnaces. But unfortunately, it costs about three and a half times what it does for gas and currently around 30% of glass manufacturers’ operating costs are energy. That’s the big issue that we've got at the moment. We can overcome it but we need some help and support to get there.
We need the government to help bring down the cost of electricity to ensure the glass industry is internationally competitive.
Energy costs are a major problem at the moment because the wholesale costs are actually a lot higher than six months ago.
The sector is committed to continuing to develop the circularity of glass packaging by increasing recycling rates and the recycled content in glass packaging. As part of this commitment the UK glass container manufacturers are supporting an industry-led project called ‘Close the Glass Loop’ to boost recycling collection rates to 90% by 2030.
A key area of concern at the moment is the DRS (Deposit Return Scheme). We believe a DRS will have a detrimental effect on glass recycling and lead to a range of negative unintended consequences such as increased carbon emissions and material switching. The reverse vending machines compact and crush the glass which means the material cannot be colour sorted. If you can't colour sort, it proves very difficult to recycle it back into the furnaces and instead the glass will likely be downcycled as aggregates.
Another area that we are looking at is the colour imbalance within the UK. We create a lot of products like whiskey and spirits in flint or clear glass. Most of that gets exported, so it's never recycled in this country. Therefore, we make a lot of flint, but we don't have a lot of flint cullet through our recycling processes. If you have green glass, or amber glass, you can actually put higher levels of recycled content into those because the colour is not so much of an issue. One area that we are working on with brands is speaking to them to look at whether or not they could change from flint to green in order to increase the amount of recycled content in their products.
The recycled content of green glass is typically 90% plus compared to flint which tends to be no more than 40%. It's one area where we are working with brands and the glass supply chain to make it clear that flint glass can't achieve as high a recycled content, and to consider looking at changing the colours that they use. British Glass are putting together guidance on maximising the sustainability of glass for brand owners to ensure they can make informed decisions.
British Glass are putting together guidance on maximising the sustainability of glass for brand owners to ensure they can make informed decisions.
British Glass are putting together guidance on maximising the sustainability of glass for brand owners to ensure they can make informed decisions.
We are working to overcome some of the barriers. For example, we are speaking to various stakeholders, to the government and some network operators, such as Northern Power Grid in Yorkshire, to potentially develop some policies to reduce the costs of low carbon fuels such as; electricity, hydrogen and biofuels that will help us achieve Net Zero while remaining competitive.
Get involved in any of our stakeholder groups, such as the recycling ‘Close the Glass Loop’ group. We are bringing the industry and glass supply chain together to see how we can get to that 90% collected for recycling rate by 2030. I would encourage people to get involved with any of the stakeholder events that we're hosting, and make their customers and stakeholders aware of the barriers that the glass industry has in getting to net zero.
Many of these decarbonisation barriers are the same for most energy intensive industries across the UK. There are some recycling barriers that are specific to the glass industry, although a lot of the actual energy cost barriers are the same for other industries, such as the steel, chemicals, paper and the ceramics industry.
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