Glass return refill United Kingdom

This research paper explores industry perceptions of glass container refill schemes in the UK. Findings indicate that while local refill schemes are seen as potentially effective, industry stakeholders strongly prefer investing in colour-separated glass collection to increase the UK's recycling rate to 90% to address supply issues and net zero targets.

• The UK currently remelts only 36% of collected glass into new containers, a figure described as surprisingly low considering the glass industry's material supply issues.
• Industry stakeholders believe that while local return and refill schemes for specific products could be effective and environmentally friendly, they prefer investing in colour-separated glass collection. Increasing the UK recycling rate to 90% is viewed as a more sustainable and effective way to address supply issues and meet net zero targets for container glass manufacture, provided there is national coordination and oversight.
• Improving UK glass recycling is hindered by mixed glass collection systems and a profitable export market, while large-scale bottle deposit schemes have faced opposition from the sector.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2024). Glass return refill United Kingdom. https://www.sei.org/publications/glass-return-refill-united-kingdom/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Glass return refill United Kingdom. 2024. https://www.sei.org/publications/glass-return-refill-united-kingdom/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Glass return refill United Kingdom |date=30 April 2024 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/glass-return-refill-united-kingdom/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2024glass, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Glass return refill United Kingdom}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2024}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/glass-return-refill-united-kingdom/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }