Visy says on track to increase proportion of recycled glass in packaging by five per cent

Paper, packaging and recycling business Visy has announced that an average of 63 per cent recycled content in its glass packaging across Australia and New Zealand for the financial year so far, a 5 per cent increase on the previous financial year.

In a statement on Tuesday the company said the figure is higher still for amber and green coloured recycled glass at 75 per cent, on average, for the financial year to date.  

Benefits from increasing the percentage of recycled glass included in reduced landfill and energy use, Visy’s General Manager of Sustainability Kate Baker said. 

“A Visy glass container with 70% recycled content uses up to 30% less energy to make than a container with no recycled content,” said Baker. 

Paul Vine, General Manager at Visy Glass, said it was achieving up to 90 per cent recycled glass in some of its green and amber bottles, “creating a more sustainable product, keeping glass out of landfill and reducing our reliance on virgin material.” 

The announcement follows the official opening of an upgraded glass recycling facility at Laverton, Victoria in February, doubling processing capacity to 200,000 tonnes per annum onsite and including 20 new optical sorters for processing glass pieces as small as 3 millimetres in size. 

The Laverton expansion was budgeted at $50 million.

Investments by the company that are underway in NSW and Queensland include a $500 million glass recycling and manufacturing facility in Yatala, south of Brisbane, which is expected to recycle up to 200,000 tonnes of glass annually. 

Picture: supplied

Further reading

Visy launches $50 million expansion at Laverton site

Six companies share Recycling Modernisation Fund grants