The first edition of the event to be in person, British Glass hosted the third annual UK Glass Recycling Summit in Manchester, a day long summit with guest speakers from across the glass supply chain with a focus on improving the recycling of glass in the UK to continue the path towards a 90% collected for recycling rate by 2030.
Over 50 leading names from businesses within the industry supply chain, local and national government, and academia attended the conference.
Industry representatives present at the UK Glass Recycling Summit heard keynote addresses from global drinks brand Diageo, DEFRA under-secretary Rebecca Pow, national supermarket Co-op, and leading industry experts from British Glass. Delegates also took part in a panel discussion, with questions fielded on pioneering closed-loop recycling across the supply chain and educating both consumers and businesses on effective glass recycling practice.
British Glass teamed up with NGO WRAP in the afternoon to deliver a workshop and breakout sessions, where members of the UK glass industry could contribute with their thoughts and perspectives on how best to go about tackling recycling issues currently faced by the industry, such as upcoming DRS legislation and the existing cullet exportation and PRN problems.
The UK Glass Recycling Summit was designed by British Glass to facilitate collaboration across the supply chain to best position the glass industry to achieve net-zero and high recycling rates. Lead Packaging and Recycling Advisor Phil Fenton commended the success of the event:
“The UK Glass Recycling Summit 2023 was a remarkable show of commitment towards achieving our recycling goals. We had an outstanding turnout and valuable insights were shared by participants. The glass industry has long been at the forefront of sustainability efforts, and this event reinforced our collective determination to tackle the challenges we face in recycling; enhancing recycling rates, improving processes, and finding sustainable solutions to underscore the industry’s commitment to creating a circular economy for glass”.
