Supporting glass recycling

Glass is the preferred benchmark packaging material for spirits, wine, beer and food. Infinitely recyclable 100% without loss of quality, it is a “permanent” material at the heart of the circular economy. We act at each stage of its life cycle to promote its recycling by encouraging its collection from private individuals, hotels, restaurants and cafés. We have also developed expertise in processing the glass collected in this way in our eight dedicated cullet treatment centers.

Cullet, a resource at the heart of recycling

The use of recycled glass (cullet) in the manufacturing process has major advantages. Cullet reduces the consumption of natural raw materials such as sand or synthetic materials such as sodium carbonate. By replacing raw materials, it reduces CO2 emissions on two levels: by lowering the energy required for melting and by decreasing the use of raw materials whose melting emits carbon dioxide.

Today, cullet is the main raw material for glassmakers. Its incorporation rate in the furnaces has increased considerably in recent years. This rate could technically reach up to 95% for certain colors. Today it is mainly the availability of cullet that limits this integration.

The figures

  • By adding 10% more cullet to the production process, the CO2 emissions of a glass furnace are reduced by 5% and its energy consumption by 2.5%
  • Recycling one ton of cullet saves an average of 1.2 tons of virgin raw materials.

19 cullet processing centers in 8 countries

Most of our plants recycle all the cullet from their own production (internal cullet) and, wherever possible, they provide an outlet for used cullet from outside (external cullet). We have invested in eight cullet processing centers where used glass is sorted, cleaned of impurities and crushed to become clean cullet, ready to make new glass.

Increasing glass collection with Close the Glass Loop

We are members of the European action platform, “Close the Glass Loop”, a collaborative public-private partnership created by the European Glass Packaging Federation (FEVE), which aims to increase the glass collection rate to 90% by 2030. The initiative brings together twelve European federations representing glass companies, recycled glass preparers, brands, local authorities and eco-organizations in charge of collecting and recovering packaging.