European spirits sector joins Close the Glass Loop initiative

The European spirits sector – represented by spiritsEUROPE – has partnered with Close the Glass Loop to boost glass packaging collection to 90 percent by 2030 and put more recycled glass back in the “bottle to bottle packaging loop”.

“With 100 percent of raw materials for spirit distillates sourced directly from nature, sustainable production processes are in our sector’s DNA and at the heart of what we do. In line with this, European spirit producers understand and consistently work towards reducing the environmental impact of our activities,” said Ulrich Adam, spiritsEUROPE Director General. “In particular, we address the use of resources such as the re-use of by-products from distillation as feed product for farm animals as well as the challenge of reusable and recyclable packaging.

“The Close the Glass Loop initiative complements our Drinksinitiatives.eu we undertake across Europe with our partners to make our value chain more sustainable.”

The Close the Glass Loop is an initiative by the European container glass industry which aims to unite the packaging value chain under a multi-stakeholder European programme supported by national level action plans. 

“Spirits is one of our leading customers, with most products packed in glass. We are proud to work together to increase bottle-to-bottle recycling,” stated Adeline Farrelly, European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) Secretary General. “The collaboration with spiritsEUROPE will strengthen our Circular Economy model with significant sustainability benefits as increasing recycling rates has also the effect of reducing CO₂ emissions and energy consumption as well as diverting waste from landfill.”

All consumer goods industries are being called upon by the European Commission to collect, recycle and reuse packaging. Each country will need to achieve much more ambitious recycling targets by 2030 to meet the calls, and the new emphasis is on actual recycling and not collection. For glass, it will be 75 percent by 2030.