As part of the Government’s suite of export bans, glass is being banned from export from January 1, 2021.
Unlike plastics and papers, only a small percentage of Australia’s glass is exported to international markets so the impact on local recycling collection and processing may be less than other material types. However, the ban shines a light on the fact that 62% of our recyclable glass packaging is sent to landfill and almost the same tonnage is imported.
The January 1 ban will restrict the export of all packaging glass such as bottles, jars and other containers, and plate glass, such as windows. Glass that has been processed in a way that produces glass fines or cullet that have a very low contamination rate will be able to be exported. Theoretically they have been transformed from waste glass into a manufacturing resource.
Packaging glass is readily recyclable by primary processing through existing Materials Recovery Facilities and then secondary processing through glass beneficiation plants. As of 2018, 560 kilotonnes of glass packaging was recycled and 700 kilotonnes went to landfill. About 80% of the glass that was recycled went through MRF primary processing, where 10% is lost to landfill and the remaining tonnes go mainly to beneficiation for new glass containers but also to road base, abrasives, stockpiles and export. Export accounted for 23 kilotonnes out of 1290 kilotonnes consumed so it is obvious that a ban of waste glass will not have a major impact on the local waste and recycling industry. Those 23 kilotonnes came from beneficiation plants as well so they are arguably still able to be exported after the ban.
With glass packaging use plateauing as plastic becomes a more popular option due to safety and cost, the future of glass is upheld by use in the alcoholic drinks industry. If one of our objectives with regards to the export bans was to develop a more circular economy, the problem that we need to fix with glass is not to stop exporting waste glass, but to recycle more of it and reduce our reliance on imports.
Importing glass for use in new bottles and containers is cheaper than remanufacturing from recycled glass in Australia, due to our high cost of labour and manufacturing processes. And collection of glass through kerbside recycling is barely hanging on as many recycling collectors and MRFs would prefer if mixed recycling excluded glass. These 2 issues have led to, and will support, high rates of glass landfilling and high imports of glass. Also, use of recycled glass is currently less than 40% of glass production feedstock but it can be up to 60% so there is technical potential for more recycled glass input into new containers.
How then do we turn that around?
Government policy and industry procurement that requires 60% recycled content in glass packaging
National campaign to increase the recycling of glass bottles in particular through kerbside and container deposit schemes
Support for MRFs to process larger proportions of glass through their facilities
These broad initiatives would reduce our reliance on imports and landfills and increase circular economy principles into glass recycling.
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