Imagine a heaving pub in Dublin on a Friday night. Or a bustling tapas bar in Madrid almost any night of the week. Or a quiet, fancy French restaurant, where wine bottles are uncorked, admired, and emptied. Each setting is different but behind the counter, staff are handling large volumes of glass packaging every day.
Beverages and food in glass packaging are widely served and consumed daily in the more than 2 million HORECA businesses across the EU and the UK. With 1 HORECA establishment for every 248 inhabitants, a restaurant or a bar can be considered an extension of the living room. They are “mega-households” that consume, on average, 1,5 tonnes of glass packaging per year.
Glass is one of the most sustainable packaging materials we use. It can be recycled endlessly without losing quality, and every tonne of recycled glass saves raw materials, energy and CO₂ emissions. In a Study on one-way glass beverage packaging in the HORECA commissioned by Close the Glass Loop in 2022, it was estimated that the hospitality sector represents 17% of the total glass recycling potential in Europe.
In some countries, hospitality can have a much bigger impact. For instance, in Greece, the figure goes up to 78%, or Portugal and Spain with 39% and 36% respectively. On the other hand, countries such as Germany, Poland or the Netherlands have a relatively small share of one-way glass tonnage in HORECA, indicating also a larger share of reusable glass in these markets.
This makes the hospitality sector a key contributor of collected glass sent for recycling. Collection systems therefore need to adapt to the sector’s specific operational realities including high volumes, limited storage space for packaging waste and frequent collection needs, while ensuring cost-effectiveness for the entire system.
At the same time, despite the sector’s growing commitment to sustainability and separate waste collection, from busy bars to Michelin-star restaurants or hotels, ensuring high-quality glass sorting remains an operational challenge in hospitality establishments.
Once consumed, one-way glass packaging is collected and sent to glass cullet recycling facilities, where it is processed into cullet for remelting. However, if contaminants such as ceramics from dishes or tableware end up with the glass, this can cause damage to glass furnaces and compromise the quality of the new glass containers being produced.
Contamination by ceramics, stone, and porcelain (CSP) is a significant barrier to effective glass recycling and in a HORECA setting the risk is even higher. Glass and ceramics share the same table and if there are broken dishes or cups, they may find their way into the separate collection stream for glass packaging. At the end of a shift, separate glass collection may feel like an extra burden especially in high-volume environments. Making the collection systems as convenient as possible is part of the answer, but raising staff awareness is as essential to keep glass in a closed recycling loop.
To support hospitality operators in this challenge, Close the Glass Loop - the European action platform for glass packaging collection & recycling, has officially launched a Europe-wide awareness-raising campaign targeting the hospitality sector. The campaign aims to improve the quality and quantity of glass packaging collected for recycling in commercial establishments by highlighting the importance of separating glass packaging from other materials, with a focus on the risk of mixing glass and ceramics.The initiative has been developed in close cooperation with the hospitality sector, represented by HOTREC - the Association of Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe by recognising the sector’s central role in advancing the circular economy for glass packaging.
At the heart of the campaign is a short, engaging video clip entitled “The Sound of Glass” to bring the message that glass and ceramics can share the same table but do not belong in the same bin.
Hospitality professionals have a unique opportunity to lead by example in a sector with a significant impact on circular economy goals. After all, hospitality operators are not the challenge, they are part of the solution.
It isn’t about adding extra work, but about adopting simple habits into everyday operations that lead to higher glass recycling quality and stronger sustainability performance. The video is a practical “call to action” that can be shown in staff briefings or trainings and shared in internal channels. By incorporating clear glass separation practices into your waste management and empowering your team with the right knowledge, you become part of a wider movement to recycle glass more and better!