UK glass recycling reached record levels in 2005, according to provisional figures from British Glass (BG). The amount of recycled glass used in the production of new containers in the UK increased by 67,000 tonnes in 2005 to an all time high of 742,000 tonnes. This means that UK manufactured bottles & jars contained an average of 35.5% recycled glass. BG calculate that an additional 250,000 tonnes of recycled glass were exported to other EU container makers, & that alternative markets such as aggregates consumed 280,000 tonnes of glass. Therefore the overall amount of glass recycled in the UK in 2005 as calculated by British Glass was 1,272,000 tonnes, or 50.8% of the waste stream. These figures cannot be confirmed until Defra releases its official 2005 recycling figures in the spring of 2006 & it is possible these figures could reveal a higher glass recycling rate. "The fact that PRN (Packaging Waste Recovery Notes) prices have been soft make this an even more impressive performance. However, maintaining such impressive progress is going to be tough," said British Glass recycling manager Rebecca Cocking. Packaging Waste Recovery Notes are tradeable instruments used by business covered by the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations to prove compliance. She added: "To meet the recycling target of 60% by 2008 imposed by the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, glass recycling faces some significant obstacles. To meet this target, we will need to continue to expand glass recycling by around 160,000 tonnes per year until 2008. This means glass collections from UK households need to almost double from 27kg per household (kg/HH) in 2003/04 to 50kg/HH by 2007/08".
