Austria Achieves High Level of Circular Economy in Glass Packaging
Austria Glas Recycling, a non-profit organization in Austria, provided approximately 270,000 tons of waste glass to the glass industry as raw material in 2022. The Austrian glass industry, including Vetropack Austria and Stoelzle Oberglas, utilized 90% of the cullet.
The collection and recycling system was established in Austria in 1977. Since then, almost 8 million tons of used glass have been recycled.
The benefits of glass recycling are impressive: for every 10% of waste glass used in new production, 3% of energy consumption and 7% of CO2 emissions are reduced. The annual savings in electrical energy are equivalent to the annual demand of around 58,000 households and reduce the CO2 footprint. Using waste glass as a secondary raw material instead of primary raw materials saves over 250,000 tons of raw materials and 260 GWh of electrical energy annually.
Dr. Harald Hauke, Managing Director of Austria Glas Recycling: “The aim is a high circular material use rate, a high proportion of recycled material in relation to the entire volume of material. The packaging glass is ideally suited for 100% material recycling – the single-use system – as well as the refill – the reusable system.”
