The average collection rate for packaging glass in Portugal is only 56% (2019 data)
Portugal participates in the European Movement “Close the Glass Loop”, a project that has the European Federation of Packaging Glass (FEVE) as a partner and which aims to achieve a circular economy in the packaging glass value chain, by collecting 90% of the glass packaging placed on the market in the European Union by 2030, in a proactive response to the new European recycling targets (75% by 2030). The Glass+ Platform, promoted and coordinated by the Smart Waste Portugal Association (ASWP), is the Portuguese Action Plan to achieve this goal. Glass+ will be launched tomorrow, May 24, at 2:30 pm, in the “O Século” room, at the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Action, and will be attended by the Secretary of State for the Environment and Energy, João Galamba.
For Tiago Moreira da Silva, Coordinator of Plataforma Vidro+, “we have to bring together all the players in the glass value chain, as well as other entities, such as universities, research centers and associations, to reflect on the reasons that lead to the low recycling rate. of glass packaging, to understand what measures we can take to increase it. Portugal is one of the seven priority European countries to increase the collection and recycling of glass packaging, given its potential and taking into account the low collection rates, so we hope that this platform can help create a compromise between different agents in the glass value chain, to make Portugal a reference country in the collection and recycling of glass packaging.”
Portugal is the European country with the highest glass production per capita, almost 4 times higher than its consumption needs. Annually, in Portugal, around 1.5 million tons of packaging glass are produced, with national consumption around 400 thousand tons and, according to 2019 data, only about half were recycled.
Tiago Moreira da Silva says that “this reality is not related to the country's existing recycling capacity. Even if Portugal were to recycle all the glass packaging it consumes, it would always have to resort to the European circular economy to be able to respond to our needs of incorporating recycled glass in the production of new packaging. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we concentrate all our efforts on collecting and recycling glass packaging in Portugal, so that we can close the glass circuit and take advantage of this unique material, which is infinitely recyclable in new ways, without ever losing its their qualities”.
Platform Vidro+
The Plataform Vidro+ was born, therefore, with the purpose of increasing the collection and recycling rate of packaging glass in Portugal, with the objective of collecting 90% of glass packaging placed on the market, for recycling, by 2030, through an initiative collaborative effort that aims to create a compromise between the different agents in the packaging glass value chain that operate in the national market, including government entities, Universities and Research Centers, Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations.
So far, Vidro+ already has 32 members, such as BA Glass, Central de Cervejas, EGF, Electrão, Lipor, Novo Verde, Porto Ambiente, Sociedade Ponto Verde, Sogrape, Sonae, Super Bock Group, Trivalor , Verallia Portugal and Vidrala.
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