Glass for Europe has published a new position paper establishing a harmonised methodology for defining and calculating recycled content in the flat glass sector, aiming to improve consistency, transparency and comparability in industry reporting.
The methodology recognises cullet as a critical component of glass manufacturing. Increasing recycled glass content reduces the need for virgin raw materials, lowers furnace energy requirements and contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Developed with Glass for Europe members and industry experts, the methodology is based on existing European and international standards, while accounting for the specific material flows and production boundaries of flat glass manufacturing. It distinguishes between pre-consumer and post-consumer cullet and establishes common principles for identifying relevant input streams and determining the recycled proportion of the finished glass.
The framework also provides guidance for production situations where individual material flows cannot be directly measured or physically segregated. This is intended to ensure that recycled-content calculations remain consistent across different manufacturing configurations. 
The same principles can be applied to determine post-consumer recycled content and, where applicable, the recycled content of processed glass products by considering the recycled content of their individual components.
Source: Glass for Europe with additional information added by Glass Balkan
