London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

Case Study – Glass Goes Green
Commissioned to run from March 2002 to March 2004 by WRAP, Glass Goes Green, is a
research initiative undertaken by the Department of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism
Management’s Centre for Environmental Studies at Oxford Brookes University. The
remit of the research was to identify the legal and commercial barriers to glass recycling
in a representative sample of licensed premises within West Oxfordshire. Although it
concentrates primarily on rural areas, a number of lessons learnt can be applied to urban
contexts.
The research involved a literature review of relevant legislation and literature,
consultation of licensed retail establishments (LREs) to determine the current recycling
status and to investigate attitudes towards recycling, and a glass audit to establish the
quantity and types of glass being disposed of. It generated numerous findings,
including:
• 600,000 tonnes (27%) of the 2.2 million tonnes of container glass waste discarded
in the area comes from the licensed retail trade.
• Despite the significant economic value of the glass discarded by these
establishments, only a small proportion of it is recycled (15 – 20%) with most of
the remainder being sent to landfill. Of the proportion that is recycled most is
generally not used for new containers but as aggregate.
• Recycling schemes are generally more commonly practised in urban areas due to
the associated cost benefits.
• Re-use of glass bottles by the drinks industry has reduced amongst those glass
producers and LREs surveyed, due to sorting and cleaning costs, difficulty of
cleaning to required standard, consumer acceptance, lack of storage space, extra
operational labour required (e.g. to sort and crate bottles, paperwork), and
dissatisfaction with collection systems.
• Increasing rates for glass collection by current commercial schemes is becoming
economically unviable and has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of
schemes operating.
The research drew a number of conclusions from these findings and produced guidance
to assist Local Authorities and LREs to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a
glass recycling scheme. The principal outcomes were:
• Nine recommended options for Government:
o Review and revise the Duty of Care Regulations.
o Increase information to licensed retail businesses.
o Charge for waste by weight rather than by lift.
o Itemise the contribution to landfill tax on waste disposal bills.
o Adjust Best Value Performance Regimes so that they cover Municipal Waste
rather than just Household Waste.
o Provide standard service contracts for licensed retail establishments to use
when negotiating with glass recycling operators.
o Regulate against the landfilling of specified recyclable wastes including
glass.
o Increase landfill tax to £35 per tonne immediately.
o Introduce a variable charging system for local authority trade waste
collection services.
• Guidance, to be published later in 2004 or early 2005, to Local Authorities and
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