14 October 2016
N E W S
Tel: +39 045 7930179
Mozzecane – Italy
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www.idromecspa.com
400 000 tonnes
of beverage cartons
recycled in Europe
The recycling rate for beverage car-
tons continues to rise in Europe. The aver-
age rate reached 44% in 2015, according
to the industry association Alliance for
Beverage Cartons (ACE), a 1% increase
compared to the previous year.
The total recovery rate for this packaging
type including energy recovery fell slight-
ly, however, down to 74% from 76% in
2014. Absolute volumes of
recycled beverage cartons also
decreased from 420 000 tonnes in
2014 to roughly 400 000 tonnes last
year and processed at more than twenty
European paper mills.
ACE sees clear room for improvement,
noting that in EU member states with
efficient separate collection systems for
packaging waste,
the recycling of bever-
age cartons can reach up to 70%. ‘We
suggest collecting all packaging sepa-
rately, combined with a ban on landfilling
packaging waste’, stresses the organisa-
tion’s director general Annick
Carpentier. ‘Legal obligations
such as these would provide much need-
ed security for investment in recycling
infrastructure’, she points out.
www.ace.be
Surge in UK’s steel packaging recycling
A total of 119 556 tonnes worth of steel
packaging was recycled in the UK during
the second quarter of the year, according to
a recent report by the Environment Agency.
The figure is up from 94 785 tonnes
achieved in the first quarter of 2016.
The provisional data suggests that 58.7%
of the total steel demand for 2016 has
already been met, partly because the sec-
tor was boosted by strong exports. In fact,
the figures haven’t been as high since
2008.
For the most part, results for other mate-
rials met market analyst expectations.
Plastics packaging recycling rose to 259
409 tonnes compared to 246 427 tonnes
(meeting 52.4% of annual demand);
while aluminium packaging recycling
dipped a little from 22 602 to 22 156
tonnes (53.9%).
The recycling performance of paper and
glass was at 925 210 tonnes and 397
225 tonnes respectively during the sec-
ond quarter. www.gov.uk
